'he Countries 



North America 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The 



Countries of North America 



A Geographical Reader 



BY 



ROBERT J. McLaughlin, a. m 






1907 

R. J. WALTHER, PHILADELPHIA 

I'ublisher 



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MJIISRARY of CONGRESS 
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J' CopyneW Entiy 

CLASS J^ XXc, Ne. 
0OPY B. 

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Copyright, 1907, by Robert J. McFjAUOhmn 



The Countries of North America 



A Geographical Reader 



I. An Eskimo Hut. 

The interior of the hut was about ten feet in diameter, 
and five and a half feet high. The walls were made of 
stones, moss, and the bones of the whale and other animals. 
The floor was covered with thin, flat stones. Half of this 
floor, at the back part of the hut, was raised a foot. This 
elevation they called the ''breck;" and it was used both as 
bed and seat, as it was covered with dry grass, over which 
were spread bearskins and dogskins. 

The hole of the entrance in the floor was close to the 
front wall, and was covered with a piece of sealskin. The 
walls were lined with sealskins or f oxskins, stretched to 
dry. 

In this hut, at the edge of the ''breck," sat an old woman, 
and on the other side, a young one, each busily at- 
tending to a smoky, greasy lamp. A third woman in the 
corner was also busy with a lamp. The lamps were made 
of soapstone, and in shape looked much like clam-shells, 
being about eight inches in diameter. The cavity was filled 
with oil, and on the straight edge a flame was burning quite 
brilliantly. The wick which supplied fuel to the flame 
was of moss. The chief business of the women was to keep 
the lamps supplied with blubber, from which the heat of 
the flame drew the oil. 

The three lamps furnished all the heat, and made it quite 
hot. Each family had its own lamp around which it 



gathered, and these families numbered thirteen persons 
in all. 

Before leaving- the hut, an invitation to eat something 
was given; and, of course, it had to be accepted. The ex- 
pression of thanks (koyenak) was one of the few in their 
language that 1 knew, and of this I made the most. They 
laughed heartily when I said ''Koyenak" in reply to their 
invitation to eat ; and immediately a not very beautiful 
young damsel poured some of the contents of one of the 
before-mentioned pots into a skin dish, and after sipping 
it, to make sure, as I supposed, that it was not too hot, she 
passed it to me over a group of heads. At first my courage 
forsook me ; but all eyes were fixed upon me, and it would 
have been imwise to refuse. I therefore shut my eyes, held 
my nose, swallowed the dose, and left. I was afterward 
told that it was their great delicacy which had been prof- 
fered to me— a soup made by boiling together blood, oil, 
and seal-intestines. It was well that I was ignorant of 
this fact. 

Adapted from Dr. Isaac J. Hayes. 

2. Iceland. 

Iceland is an island belonging to Denmark, lying 
about one hundred and fifty miles southeast of Greenland. 
Its area is slightly less than that of Pennsylvania. 

For the most part it is a very dreary land, the interior 
being chiefly a volcanic highland, whose summits are cov- 
ered with eternal snow and ice. There are at least a hun- 
dred volcanoes in Iceland, besides numerous mud volcanoes 
and gej^sers. Mount Hecla is the chief volcano, and its 
eruptions have been very numerous. 

The climate is cold, of course, though the southern shores 
are made warmer by the Gulf Stream. The severity of the 



climate makes the vegetation rather poor, grass and pota- 
toes being the chief crops. 

The inhabitants are very intelligent. Education is nni- 
versal though there are few schools, the children being 
generally taught at home. 

Reikiavik with its six thousand people is the chief city 
of Iceland, and its capital. It has but two chief streets. 
Its people are orderly and quiet, requiring only one police- 
man in winter, and two in summer. 

The houses of Reikiavik are of wood, many of them being 
but one story high. They have no chimneys, as the smoke 
is supposed to pass out through a hole in the roof. The 
windows are small pieces of glass or skin, four inches 
square, placed in the roof, as no ventilation is ever dreamed 
of. Snuff-taking is very common, and this habit deadens 
the sense of smell, so that the people do not notice the bad 
odors of drying fish. 

In reality there are but two seasons in Iceland,— winter 
and summer. The fishing begins for the men early in 
February, and lasts until the middle of May. The fish 
caught then is dried and kept for winter use. 

After the fishing, the men prepare turf for fuel. Then 
in July, the hay harvest begins. Without this, the cattle 
could not live through the winter. 

Another very peculiar occupation of Iceland is the gath- 
ering of eider-down. The eider-duck makes her nest of 
down plucked by her from her own breast; and if this is 
removed, she plucks more dcwn to protect the eggs. The 
down is a very valuable product, though the gathering is 
slow and laborious. So precious are the birds that it is 
strictly forbidden by Icelandic law to kill them unless the 
person is absolutely starving. 



"Icelandic eider-farms are frequently situated on little 
islands off the coast, covered Avith low hummocks. Small 
shelters of rough stones are made to protect the brooding- 
ducks from wind and driving rain, and bells are sometimes 
suspended near them under the belief that their sound, as 
they are rung by the wind, attracts the birds. On the 
farms the birds become very tame, so that one familiar with 
them can handle them on the nest without frightening 
them." 

The life of the Icelander, we see, is a hard road of toil, 
yet he loves his home, and believes it the fairest on the 
earth. 

3. Greenland. 

Next to Australia, Greenland is the largest island of 
the globe. It is a very cold country, more than three- 
fourths of it being covered with a thick bed of ice. From 
this vast ''ice-cap,'' thousands of glaciers are formed whicli 
descend into the sea and break off into icebergs. It has 
1)een calcnlated that the average movement of these glaciers 
is from five to eight inches a day. Many of these glaciers 
are of great size. Thus the Great Humboldt Glacier is 
sixty miles wide, with a long ocean front washed by the sea. 
During the summer the southern strip of coast loses its 
mantle of snow. The Arctic shrubs, herbs, and mosses 
appear then, and lighten up the dreary wastes. 

The inhabitants of Greenland are chiefly Eskimos. This 
word means "eaters of raw flesh," and to them a piece of 
raw walrus, frozen solid, is fine food. These people are 
scattered all over the northern part of North America, be- 
ing found in Alaska, Greenland, and the Dominion of 
Canada. 



They have coarse, black hair, broad, flat noses, and yel- 
lowish or brownish skin. The Eskimos build honses of 
stones and sod, or of stone and ice. These latter are called 
igloos. An igloo is about six feet high, and resembles a 
basin turned upside down, A covered passage-way, ten 
or twelve feet long, leads to the door. This tunnel is so 
low that you must crawl on your hands and knees to get 
through. 

In some regions, the houses are formed merely of snow\ 

The farther north one goes, the longer are the darkness of 
winter and the daylight of summer. At the North Pole it- 
self there is but one day in the year and but one night, 
each of which is six months long, the night lasting from 
the twenty-first of September to the twenty-first of March. 
The Eskimos then nuist face this terrible darkness that 
may last for months, as the average night of the Arctic 
regions lasts from early in October to late in February. 
Imagine not seeing the sun for all those weeks ! The long, 
dazzling sunlight of tlie summer is almost as trying. 

The cold they endure in winter is very severe. In Peary's 
journal, an entry for the month of March speaks about the 
cold. He says : 

"Last night was a little more comfortable than the pre- 
vious one, but not much. I got the bubble out of the 
thermometer, and when I took it outside the igloo, it fell 
so rapidly from minus 25 P. (the temperature of our bed 
platform, where it had been resting close to my head) that 
at first I feared it was broken. It finally stopped at minus 
61i/'2 F. During the march it has ranged from minus 55 
to minus 53 to minus 50 in the sun, and yet to-day has been 
the most comfortable one for the past week." 

In a magazine article, Peary said: ''In the far north, 
when winter settles down in earnest, the very air seems 



frozen, and is filled with tiny little frost crystals. Tem- 
pered steel and seasoned oak and hickory become brittle, 
soft iron becomes hard as steel, molasses and lard are cut 
with a hatchet, petroleum turns white and grows thick like 
ice-cream, and one's breath turns instantly to ice. . . . 
A w^ell, sound man, woman, or child, if properly fed and 
properly clothed, can live and endure the severest cold of 
the Arctic regions just as comfortably as we live and en- 
dure the cold of our northern winters here at home. 

"It is only when the cold joins forces with an Arctic 
blizzard, the drifting snow and the wind, the winter 
demons of the north, that all attempts to work or travel 
must be given up, and men and animals are compelled to 
burrow in their snow shelters until the storm is over." 

The garments, then, must be suited to the climate, and 
fur is therefore worn. The men and the women have much 
the same dress. The inner garment is of bird skin, worn 
with the feathers next to the body. Stockings and trousers 
of sealskin with the fur on the outside are the outer 
garments. The men have also fur boots, jackets, and hoods. 

The Eskimo lives by hunting. He skillfully manages his 
long, skin boat or kayak (ka' ak) which is all covered ex- 
cept a small space in the centre. Seated in it, he harpoons 
the seal, the walrus, and the whale, which give him food, 
fuel, and clothing. In hunting the polar bear, he uses his 
dog-sledge, drawn by teams of ten or more dogs. 

The Eskimo dog is ill-fed, quarrelsome, and often un- 
manageable, yet he is of great value, as each dog can draw 
a load of fifty pounds for forty miles a day. 

The western coast of Greenland is ruled by Denmark, the 
land being divided into districts, each under its own gov- 
ernor. Ilpernavik, one of the chief towns, is the most 
northern civilized settlement on the earth. Strange to say. 



this word means ' ' the summer place. ' ' There is little truth 
in the name, any more than in the word "Greenland" it- 
self, the "good name" which Eric the Red, a thousand 
years ago, gave to the country in order to cause emigrants 
to go there. 

4. The Nearest Approach to the North Pole. 

On July 16, 1905, the "Roosevelt" left New York har- 
bor for her Arctic journey, taking the route through Davis 
Strait and Bai'fin Bay. 

Leaving Etah, in northwestern Greenland, with two hun- 
dred Eskimo dogs and fifty Eskimos, men, women, and 
children, Peary's ship severed all communication with the 
civilized world. Making her way through the ice-floes, on 
the fifth of September they reached Cape Sheridan, a north- 
eastern projection of Grant Land, and this they made their 
winter quarters during 1905- '06. In addition to their 
stores they secured a number of Arctic hares and tv/o hun- 
dre(i and fifty musk-oxen before the severe winter weather 
began. The sun set for the last time on the twelfth of Octo- 
ber, and the Arctic night lasted until the sixth of March, 
Avhen the first glimpse of the sun was seen. 

By sledges drawn by dog-teams, Peary planned to con- 
tinue his journey northward toward the Pole, going first 
northeast along the coast of Greenland and then due north 
across the frozen Arctic. "At Storm Cape, we abandoned 
everything not absolutely necessary, and I bent every 
energy to setting a record pace. . . . As we advanced, 
the character of the ice improved, the floes becoming much 
larger, and pressure ridges infrequent; but the cracks and 
narrow leads (lanes of water) increased." 

As the dogs gave out exhausted by their labors, they were 
fed to the others. They pushed on till ''noon of the 21st 



10 

(of April). My observation then gave 87° 6'. So far as 
history records, this is the nearest approach to the North 
Pole ever made by man. I thanked God with as good a 
grace as possible for what T had been able to accomplish." 

Peary left here a bottle containing a record of the expe- 
dition and a piece of his old silk flag. He then began the 
march back to Storm Cape, racing through a blinding bliz- 
zard. Their igloos at this camp were ice grottos lined with 
icicles and half filled with snowdrifts, but to these wearied 
men they were a haven of delight. 

Tlie hardships and perils of Arctic explorations are in- 
deed awful, but yet they are not able to deter these brave 
explorers, who seek to wrest from these regions their 
guarded secrets. 

5. The Dommion of Canada. 

What a great country this is. with its shores washed by 
three oceans. Its total area is over three million square 
miles, and it comprises one-third of the whole British 
Empire. Its vast extent oifers great varieties of climate, 
from the Arctic tracts of the north, Avhere a temperature 
of —70° has been recorded, to the mild climate of the south- 
west, warmed by the Japanese Current. 

It is not a land teeming with population, like our coun- 
try. Only about five million people inhabit this vast stretch 
of territory, the southeastern provinces of Quebec and On- 
tario being by far the most thickly settled. 

Much of the country is unexplored. The islands of the 
Arctic Archipelago are but little known; we know the 
tundra, or ''Barren Grounds" only as a desolate region of 
partly frozen moss, grass, and lichen. South of this lies 
the great subarctic forest, stretching almost without break 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Here one might see a few 



11 

Eskimos, or a tribe of Indians, or an agent of the Hudson 
Bay Company. The rest of the forest is given up to wild 
animals, that alone break the awful stillness of this lonely 
land. 

The Hudson Bay Company was chartered in 1670 to 
trade with the Indians of this region. It is an English com- 
pany, and its agents exchange the furs that the Indians 
catch for glass beads, powder, flour, blankets, etc. 

Once a year, in July, ships from England bring supplies 
to the agents, and only then do these men see the face of 
a white man. 

They buy millions of skins every year, the supply ships 
taking them back to London on their return. 

The Hudson Bay sable, or pine marten, is the most com- 
mon of the valuable varieties. It lives in the pine forests, 
and is caught in traps by the Indians. The fisher is simi- 
lar to the pine marten in appearance, though larger. The 
mink bears an inferior fur. It frequents streams, and is 
caught in traps baited with nsh. Two of the most valuable 
furs are those furnished by the black fox and the silver fox. 
The beaver is another valued fur-bearing animal. It has 
almost disappeared from the forests, such numbers having 
been killed to supply the needs of commerce. The most 
valued fur of all is that of the sea-otter. It is caught in 
nets or speared in the sea by the Indians. A good skin of 
this variety is worth about two hundred dollars. The fur 
trade is one of Canada's great resources. Few understand, 
however, the amount of hardship and suffering needed to 
procure these precious furs. The life of an Indian trapper 
is indeed a hard one. Sometimes these men hunt in small 
parties, each carrying his provisions and his sleeping blan- 
ket. On a sled they draw the camp-kettles, the traps, and 
the furs they may have taken. A walk of a hundred miles 



in search of their prey is nothing uniLsual for these hunters, 
and that, too, in the dead of winter, with deep snows on the 
ground. And all this labor for the trifling pay the Com- 
pany will give for their furs ! 

These Indians are remarkably honest. An Indian will 
come into a trading-post in September without furs and 
without a penny. He gets all the flour, tea, sugar, bacon, 
powder, traps, etc., that he requires, the company giving 
him credit to the amount of five hundred dollars, if he so 
desires. With these goods in his canoe, he vanishes to his 
hunting-grounds, possibly three hundred miles distant. Yet 
the next June, when the streams are once more free of ice, 
he will return with furs to pay this debt. For one of these 
Indians not to pay his debts is an almost unknown thing. 

One other feature of a Hudson Bay Company's fort miLst 
be noticed, and that is the great crowd of dogs in the court- 
yard. 

Robinson says: "During the summer season they do 
nothing for man, but pass their time in war, robbery, and 
music, if their mournful howls can be dignified by that 
name. And yet, neglected as are these noisy, dirty animals 
in their months of idleness, unfed, kept in bare life by 
plunder, the mark for every passer's stick or stone, they 
are highly prized by their owners, and a team of fine, good, 
well-trained dogs will bring a handsome price when the 
winter season approaches. Then two well-broken dogs be- 
come as valuable as a horse; then it is the dogs that haul 
the sledges and that perform, in fact, nearly all the work 
of the country." 

Most of these dogs are wolf-like in appearance and na- 
ture. So savage are they that sometimes a driver, to har- 
ness or imharness them, must partly stun them by a blow 
on the nose. 



13 

The dogs are harnessed in various ways, either two 
abreast, or tandem, or into a pack by separate lines. Their 
rate of speed with a sledge averages forty miles in a day 
of ten hours. Without these dogs, all communication in 
this wild land would be impossible. 

6. The Dominion of Canada (continued). 

Eric the Red visited Labrador about the year 1000 A. D., 
and he called it the "Land of Naked Rocte." Its present 
name was given to it in consequence of a visit there in 
1500, by a Portuguese explorer. He took back to Portugal 
some of the Indians as slaves; and the king, thinking he 
had found a region that Avould supply him with slave 
laborers, called the land "Labrador," or "Laborers' 
Land." 

The life on this desolate peninsula is just as hard 
as that in the fur country. This peninsula has an 
area of about live hundred thousand square miles. The in- 
terior is still Imperfectly known, though the coast, stretch- 
ing along over one thousand miles, has been visited for 
centuries. Numerous marshes and lakes are found in the 
interior, while the river valleys support forests, in which 
deer, bears, and fur-bearing animals are found. 

Though much of Labrador lies in the same latitude as 
England, the climate is very severe. The snow lies on the 
ground fror: September to June, and a temperature of 
thirty degrees below zero is not uncommon. In winter 
the whole coast is blockaded by drifting fields of ice; in 
summer, glittering icebergs give added beauty to these 
' ' storm-beaten shores. ' ' 

The permanent inhabitants are the Eskimos in the north 
und the east, the Indians in the interior, and the whites at 
scattered points along the coast. There are about four 



14 

thousand whites living permanently in Labrador, their oc- 
cupations being lishing in summer and trapping fur-bear- 
ing animals in winter. 

Suffering is extreme among these poor people in winter, 
for flour and other necessities of life are very dear. Dr. 
Wilfred Grenfell, an English missionary doctor, by his 
work among these men, Ivcis helped them to some extent. 
He has established several small hospitals and a number of 
co-operative stores which have reduced the high prices of 
food at least half. Aided by Andrew Carnegie, he has also 
es'tablished forty portable libraries, and in many cases he 
has had the people taught to read. Another good idea was 
to teach sewing to the women. But the field is large, and 
one man's work cannot cover it. It is a hard, barren land, 
with little but endless toil and suffering for those forced 
to spend their lives there. 

In summer the white population is temporarily inci*eased 
by the great numbers of Newfoundland fishermen who go 
with their families to Labrador about the end of June, liv- 
ing in rude huts along the shore during the fishing season. 

Dr. Charles Townsend says: "The permanent inhabit- 
ants of the Labrador coast, the 'liveyers', are about three 
thousand in number, while between twenty and thirty 
thousand fishermen spend the short summer there. These 
latter figures include fisherwomen and fisher children, for 
they all take part in the business of preparing and curing 
the fish. As soon as the ice permits, and even before it, the 
fleet of schooners sails from Newfoundland for the Labrador 
coast, eager to be on hand when the fish 'strike in.' . . . 
There are two things among these fisherfolk that are con- 
spicuous by their absence. . . . T saw no drunkenness 
and heard but little profanity all the time I was on the 
coast. . . . The people are a sturdy and contented-look- 



15 

illy' icicc. it is true that they lack many things that we call 
necessities ... but to my mind they are infinitely bet- 
ter off than the toiling slum dwellers of our great cities." 

He says the icebergs are one of the most interesting pic- 
tures in Labrador, varying in size from "tiny cakes of ice 
to great masses as large as a cathedral," with only about 
one-sixth of the mass above the water. 

"The color of these bergs first calls for our admiration. 
Of alabaster whiteness, and sparkling in the sun as if beset 
with diamonds, they are objects of exceeding beauty. In 
the shadows, in the deep crevasses, and in the caverns 
carved by the hungry waves, the color is often of the most 
intense and translucent blue. Where the water washes 
them and they extend out as great subaqueous shelves, the 
color changes to a lovely green. ... In the changing 
lights and shadows of sunrise and sunset, the icebergs glow 
with pink oi' darken with purples and blues in a wonderful 
manner. Beautiful as these colors are, perhaps the most 
beautiful and impressive of all is the pure, chaste whiteness 
of these ice mountains of the sea." 

7. The Klondike Gold Region. 

The Indian name for Klondike was Throndiuk, meaning 
"river full of fish." It is not for its fish, however, that 
the Klondike region is valued to-day, but for its gold. The 
Klondike River is a shallow Canadian stream, about one 
hundred and twenty miles long, draining into the Yukon. 
The Klondike gold-fields are in the northwestern part of the 
Dominion of Canada. "The Dome," a mountain mass 
over four thousand feet high, lies between the Indian River 
and the Klondike River, and in it many of the gold-pro- 
ducing creeks rise. Gold was first discovered here in 1896. 
"When the 'I^]xcelsior' steamed into the Golden Gate on 



16 

the mornine of July 14, 1S97, San Francisco was at first 
inclined to regard as a 'fake' the reports she brought of 
fabulous gold discoveries in the far northwest. . . . 
Three days later, however, the arrival of the 'Portland' at 
Seattle, with over a million dollars, changed doubt into cer- 
tainty." People rushed madly for this new El Dorado, 
enduring terrible hardship in getting there and after reach- 
ing it. The water route to Klondike is very long. The 
traveller goes from San Francisco to St. Michael, a small 
commercial station of western Alaska, near the mouth of 
the Yukon ; thence the route is down the Yukon by steamers 
to Dawson City, the chief town of the Klondike region. 
This route is four thousand, eight hundred and two miles 
long, and is adapted only to summer travel, for the Yukon 
is frozen all the year except from the middle of June to 
early September. 

In the early days of the gold excitement, the miners took 
a shorter route of about five hundred miles from Dyea, a 
port of southeastern Alaska, through the Chilkoot Pass in 
the Coast Mountains to Dawscn City. Supplies were drawn 
on sledges or carried on the backs of miners until the Yukon 
was reached. This wild Chilkoot Pass was the scene of 
great suffering in those early days, for its fierce storms 
lasted all winter, and its temperature often fell to forty de- 
grees below zero. A railroad has now been built over the 
neighboring White Pass, the southern terminus being the 
town of Skagway, which is a short distance east of Dyea. 
By this railroad and by steamboat along the upper course 
of the Yukon, Dawson can now be reached in safety. 

Dawson City lies on the Yukon River just below the mouth 
of the Klondike, and it is the centre of the gold region there. 
Its climate is severe in winter, the thermometer, often reg- 
istering fifty degrees below zero. Their winter days are 



17 

short, there being but two hours between the sun's rising 
and setting. In summer, on the other hand, the days are 
twenty hours long. 

The town has banks, stores, warehouses, etc., and its pop- 
ulation is as orderly as that of any other mining town In 
1896, everything was absurdly dear. A ten-cent cigar or 
a shave cost a dollar ; sugar cost thirty-five cents a pound ; 
lemons cost twenty-five cents apiece ; oranges cost fifty cents 
apiece; and eggs cost two dollars a dozen. The railroad 
has, of course, cheapened things greatly. 

The Klondike gold-fields are a rich possession. In 1897, 
from January to the beginning of April, they yielded about 
five million dollars' worth of gold, though every foot of 
ground had to be thawed out by small fires. It is estimated 
that the present annual yield is about $20,000,000. 

8. Canadian Cities. 

You must not think that the whole of Canada is desolate 
and cheerless. The southern part is a region of farm and 
forest, with many flourishing towns. We have not time to 
speak of Ottawa, the capital; of Toronto, the beautiful, 
flourishing port; of Winnipeg, one of the great wheat cen- 
ters of the world; of Halifax, the chief naval station of 
England in North America. Let us visit its two most in- 
teresting cities, Montreal and Quebec. 

Montreal is the chief commercial city of Canada. It is 
on the south side of the Island of Montreal in the St. Law- 
rence River, which here is over two miles wide. Its streets 
are broad, and its buildings have an imposing appearance, 
being largely built of limestone. 

Mount Royal is a hill back of the town. Riding up its 
inclined railway we get a fine view of the city at our feet 
and of the famous Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence. 



18 

' This bridge spans the two miles of water, and rests on 
stone pillars strong enough to resist the rush of ice in the 
spring. It is one of the largest bridges in the world, and 
the people are justly proud of it. 

Above the city are the Lachine Rapids. They are a 
three-mile stretch of the St. Lawrence, where the river 
rushes madly over rocks. Usually an Indian pilot guides 
the steamer through this dangeroiLs point. His Avatchful 
eye never leaves the line he knows he must follow, and 
niany an anxious passenger breathes a sigh of relief when 
the boat has passed the Rapids. 

Two-thirds of the people are French Canadians, and 
there is a great dilference between them and their English 
neighbors. The French shrug is everywhere seen in the 
]narkets, as the peasants haggle over prices, regardless of 
the flight of time. The houses of the French quarter are 
only a story or two high, fronting narrow little streets, just 
like streets of the Old World. The English are more busi- 
ness-like. They are the commercial and the manufacturing 
element of the city. 

Two of the finest buildings in the city are the magnificent 
"Windsor Hotel and the splendid cathedral of Notre Dame. 
This church, next to the cathedral of IMexico, is the largest 
in America. Its two towers, over two hundred feet high, 
are recognized everywhere, and its great bell, in one of these 
towers, is the largest on this continent. 

In Montreal, as elsewhere in Canada, there is much life 
and activity in w^inter, sleighing, skating, and tobogganing 
being the chief sports. 

A toboggan is made of two thin pieces of basswood, 
about two feet wide and six feet long, fastened together by 
bars of wood. The top is turned up at the front end, while 
the bottom is made verj^ smooth. 



19 

The toboggan can be used on any snowy hillside, but an 
artificial slope is preferred. This is made of logs and 
planks, covered with ice. Steps at the side enable one to 
ascend to the top, where the toboggan is j)laced in position 
for its mad plunge down the hill. What fun to whirl down 
the smooth slope! One must have a good steersman, how-, 
ever, or the toboggan and its load will turn upside down in 
the snow. 

Old and young revel in these outdoor sports. Winter 
has its discomforts, but the Canadians really enjoy theirs, 
and find health and strength in its bracing cold. 

9. Canadian Cities (continued). . 

Quebec is the oldest city in Canada, having been founded 
in 1608 by the French explorer, Champlain. It is a very 
picturesque place, and resembles a quaint old European 
town, rather than a busy American city. 

The city is built on a table-land on the left bank of the 
St. Lawrence River, and is divided into an upper tow^n and 
a lower town. The- upper town occupies the highest part 
of the table-land. It still has its ancient walls in places, 
and is further fortified by its strong fortress on the top of 
Cape Diamond, the end of the table-land, three hundred 
and fifty feet above the river. 

This fortress, flying the English flag, and guarded by 
Canadian soldiers, is perhaps the strongest fortification in 
America. So well protected is Quebec that we sometimes 
call it ''The Gibraltar of America." 

Next in interest to the fortress is the superb Dufferin 
Terrace, a great platform of wood, a quarter of a mile long, 
and seventy feet wide, built along the edge of the cliff one 
hundred and eighty-five feet above the lower town. This 



20 

Terrace is a favorite promenade in summer, giving one a 
tine view of the city and its surroundings. 

The lower town is the seat of the commerce of the port, 
and warehouses and wharves line the banks. It is built 
around the base of Cape Diamond, and the streets are, as 
a rule, narrow and irregular. To reach the upper town 
from the lower we can take a winding road up Mountain 
Street, or a steep flight of steps called Breakneck Stairs, or, 
if it is summer, an elevator. 

Many of the houses are small, and built of stone or plas- 
tered brick. Wooden sidewalks are common, but the steep 
streets are very clean. 

One sees things here that seem strange to American eyes. 
The caleche, or one-horse chaise, looks as if built to throw 
the passenger out on the street. The body of the vehicle 
rests on two leather straps instead of springs; there are 
two seats, one for two passengers, and one for the driver, 
right in front. It rattles down the steep street and you 
alight, delighted at the experience of the strange ride, but 
willing to wait awhile before repeating it. 

The people, too, are different, giving a charming air of 
variety to the streets. The scarlet coats of the soldiers 
lend a dash of color, while the stout peasant women **in 
plain skirts and wide straw hats," could not be seen at 
home. 

The French air of many of these people suggest to us the 
day when Quebec was a possession of France. No city has 
had a more stirring history. Its founder aimed to civilize 
and Christianize the savage Indians, and much suffering 
was endured in accomplishing this hard task. Quebec grew 
in strength and power, and its commanding position made 
it the object of repeated attacks in the various colonial 
wars. You remember how it was taken in 1759 by Wolfe 



21 

and the English. FJoating- silently down the river that 
September night, Wolfe reached a little cove. Climbing 
from here the steep slope of the Heights of Abraham, the 
English dragged their few, small cannon after them. The 
morning light showed Montcalm a sight that surprised 
but did not terrify his brave soul,— the foe drawn up in 
battle-order on the Plains of Abraham. The invaders car- 
ried the day, though with the loss of their leader; the 
French lost day and city and leader. 

The last words of both commanders are immortal. When 
Wolfe, dying on the field, was told the French were re- 
treating, conquered, he said, "God be praised; I die 
happy." Montcalm, carried to the Ursuline Convent, was 
told he could live but a few hours. "So much the better," 
said he; "1 shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." 

But this quarrel and strife ended many years ago. To- 
day the two nations live at peace with each other, no longer 
enemies opposed to each other, but friends, united in the 
love of their city and in 'their desire for its progress and 
welfare. 



lo. Newfoundland. 

Near Labrador lies the great island of Newfoundland, 
almost as large as Pennsylvania. Its winter is much 
milder, and its summer much cooler than places on the 
neighboring mainland. This equable climate is due to the 
surrounding water. On all sides, great bays penetrate from 
the Atlantic, some being ninety miles in length. This ir- 
regular outline of water makes the scenery beautiful, as at 
nearly all points, "dark cliffs, miles on miles of rocky walls 
from two hundred to three hundred feet in height," can 
be seen. 



22 

At least one-lialf of the people of Newfoundland live by 
the fisheries, either catching the fish or salting them or 
preparing them for market. 

The deep-sea fishermen fish for cod on the Banks of 
NcAvfonndland. These famous banks are shallow places in 
the ocean, where the water is from ten to one hundred and 
sixty fathoms deep. They are six hundred miles long and 
about two hundred miles wide, Grand Bank and Georges 
Bank being the most important. 

What a life of peril and. toil these men lead! Fogs ap- 
pear without a moment's warning, making the movements 
of the vessels very dangerous. Frequently ocean steamers 
strike against these little boats in the fog, dashing the help- 
less fishermen into the angry sea to perish. If a sudden 
gale arises, there is great danger indeed to these daring 
fishers, for the storms of winters do not keep them on shore. 

'' Perhaps the icy wind blows several of the smacfe over 
on their sides, and the men, clinging in the tattered rigging, 
ride out the gale. Each wave that breaks over the icy deck 
carries away a man. With frozen hands, some of the crew 
feebly cling to the ropes ; the next swell of the sea plunges 
them into the depths of the ocean. A brother, a father, or 
a son drowns before the faces of his kindred, separated 
from them by only a few yards. But alas, those yards are 
made up of white, mountainous billoAvs, and green, yawn- 
ing gulfs ! And there is no hand to save. ' ' 

Yet these brave men do not fear the sea. In spite of its 
terrors, they love it; very rarely indeed do they leave it 
for easier, safer work on shore. 

One other interesting fact about Newfoundland is that 
it is nearer Europe than any other part of North America. 
From its eastern shore to Valentia, Ireland, is only sixteen 
hundred and forty miles. Hence it is on the bed of this 



23 

part of the Atiantic that cables are hiid to permit the send- 
ing' of messages from America to Europe. The cables are 
landed at Heart's Content, on Trinity' Bay, in southeast- 
ern Newfoundland. Does it not seem wonderful that 
man has been able to think out a means of sending news 
so far, under the great waves of the ocean '? The credit of 
this invention is due to Cyrus W. Fields, who persevered 
for years before he succeeded in his great plan. 

Newfoundland was discovered by John Cabot in 1497, 
as the records of the expenditures of King Henry VII. 
show: "1497, Aug. 10. To hym that found the New Isle, 
£10." The history of the island for many 3^ears was only 
a record of disputes between English and French fishermen. 
The island became an English possession by the Treaty of 
Utrecht, in 1713, and it still remains under English rule. 
It is not a part of Canada, but has its own governor, ap- 
pointed by the king of England. The people share in the 
government, electing a general assembly to aid in making 
the laws. 

II. In and around Boston. 

Boston is the chief city of New England. Its people are 
very proud of it, and with right. Dr. Oliver Wendell 
Holmes, the great author, ridiculed this pride when he 
said, "Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system." 

"We all have a right to admire Boston, as one of our great 
cities. It is second to New York as regards commerce, and 
from its harbor, ships sail to all parts of the world. 

A visitor finds it a most interesting city, if he has any 
knowledge of American history. Here occurred that so- 
called "Boston Massacre," which aroused the entire coun- 
try in 1770. The quarrel between the mob and the soldiers 
was a little thing, but the shedding of American blood by 



24 

Poreiscn soldiers was a great and dreadful thing to the peo- 
ple. That command of ''Fire!" was fatal. As Hawthorne 
says : ''The flash of their mnskets lighted up the street, and 
the report rang loudly between the edifices. . . . Eleven 
of the sons of New England lay stretched upon the street. 
Some, sorely wounded, were struggling to rise again. 
Others stirred not nor groaned, for they were past all pain. 
Blood was streaming upon the snow ; and that purple stain 
in the midst of King Street, though it melted away in the 
next day's sun, was never forgetten nor forgiven by the 
people." 

The famous "Boston Tea-Party" occurred in 1773, when 
about fifty men and boys, dressed as Indians, emptied the 
tea-chests on the three British ships into the sea. 

You remember Longfellow 's fine poem of ' ' Paul Revere 's 
Ride"°^ Paul Revere was a Bostonian, and the two lan- 
terns, hung from the steeple of old North Church that April 
night in 1775, told him the British were beginning their 
march against Lexington and Concord, a few miles distant. 
He bravely rode in advance to spread the alarm. 

"So through the night rode Paul Revere; 

And so through the night went his cry of alarm 

To every Middlesex village and farm,— 

A cry of defiance and not of fear, 

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, 

And a word that shall echo for evermore! 

For, borne on the night wind of the past, 

Through all our history, to the last, 

In the hour of darkness and peril and need. 

The people will waken and listen to hear 

The hurrying hoof -beats of that steed. 

And the midnight message of Paul Revere." 



25 

The quaint North Church brings those stirring days to 
our mind; so does old Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of Lib- 
erty." In the hall over the market here, the American 
patriots used to meet to talk about securing- their liberties 
from England. 

The battle of Bunker Hill was fought in what is now 
Boston, in 1775. It roused the whole country, for it showed 
the people that the American soldier dared to fight his 
British foe. When Washington heard how bravely the 
Americans had fought at Bunker Hill, he said, "The liber- 
ties of the country are safe!" When we see Bunker Hill 
Monument, that tall granite shaft, two hundred and twenty- 
one feet high, we think of what these patriots did, and of 
what their work means for us to-day. 

Boston Common is a beautiful park in the centre of the 
city, covering forty-eight acres ; its beautiful elms make it 
most attractive. In the centre of the Common is the Frog 
Pond, around which the children plaj^ At first the Com- 
mon was intended as a common pasture for cattle ; to-day it 
is simply a pleasure park. 

On one side of the Common is the State-House, with its 
gilded dome, visible far and wide. The Boston Public 
Library and the magnificent Commonwealth Avenue are 
two other points of interest in the town that no tourist can 
neglect. The Library is a splendid marble pile with fine 
paintings and a rich collection of books. Commonwealth 
x\venue is "one of the finest residence streets of America.'' 
It is two hundred and forty feet wide; on both sides are 
handsome houses, while a stretch of trees is found through 
its centre. 

Cambridge is a beautiful suburb of Boston. Here we 
find Harvard ITniversity, founded in 1636, and now one 
of the leading American colleges, with its roll of over four 



26 

thousand students. Near the University is the famous elm 
nnder which Washington took command of the American 
forces in 1775.- In Cambridge, too, is the house in which 
Longfellow^ lived, famous as having been Washington's 
headcjuarters in 1775. A\^est of the city is the lovely cem- 
etery. Mount Auburn, where Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, 
and many other great Americans are buried. 

12. In and around Boston (continued). 

About sixteen miles from Boston is an extensive reef of 
rocks on which a famous lighthouse is built. It took over 
live years to build Minot Ledge Light. The rock on which 
it stands is covered by the ocean except at low tide, and 
then it is visible for a few hours. After two years' labor, 
the workmen managed to get an iron platform built ; they 
labored under great difficulties, for they had to hold on to 
I'opes while working, to prevent themselves from being 
washed away by the sea. In one night, the sea destroyed 
this lnb(n^ of two years; the men persevered, however, and 
at last the lighthouse ^vas built. It is a round stone tower, 
eighty-eight feet high. As Longfellow says, ''It rises out 
of the sea like a huge cannon, mouth upward." But its 
message is not war and destruction; it is mercy and help- 
fulness, for many a sailor has been saved by its w^arning 
rays. 

No traveller to Boston could leave without seeing old 
Plymouth. It is about thirty-seven miles from Boston, and 
a day's trip there on the boat is a delightful experience. 
Plymoiuh is the oldest town in New England, for here the 
Pilgrim fathers first settled, when they landed from the 
"Mayflower" in December, 1620. The long, severe jour- 
ney was over for them, and the small mass of granite that 
we call Plymouth Pock shows where they landed. The date. 



27 

1620, is carved on it to-day, for that was the year in which 
that little company began their dreary winter's fight for 
life, contending successful^ with hunger, cold, and the 
desolate, lifeless land. 

This stone has been called the ''corner-stone of the Re- 
public," for without these fearless, liberty-loving Pilgrims, 
our nation would never have become the great, free land 
it is. 

Mrs. Hemans praises the Puritan character in her beau- 
tiful poem, describing the Pilgrims' landing: 

"Ay, call it holy groimd, 

' The soil where first they trod ; 
They have left unstained what there they found, — 
Freedom to worship God." 

Many relics of that early time are kept in Pilgrim Hall 
in Plymouth. Many colonial garments, pieces of furniture, 
dishes, etc., can be seen there. Peregrine AAHiite's little 
wicker cradle will interest you, since that child was the first 
white baby born in New England. Of even more interest 
is the sword of the famous Captain Miles Standish, the 
brave leader of the Pilgrims in their Indian wars, feared 
by them as a strong fighter and respected as an honest, 
good man. Longfellow shows us the l^ind of man he was 
in the answer he sent back to the Indians when one of them 
brought the threat of war, in the rattlesnake skin filled Avith 
arrows : 

''War is a terrible trade; but in the cause that is righteous, 
Sweet is the smell of powder; and thus I answer the chal- 
lenge ! 
Then from the rattlesnake's skin, with a sudden contemptu- 
ous gasture, 



28 

Jerkins: the Indian arrows, he filled it with powder and 

bullets 
Full to the very jaws, and handed it back to the savage, 
Saying, in thundering tones : ' ' Plere, take it ! this is your 

answer ! ' * 

13. Winter in New England. 

I believe no one attempts to praise the climate of New 
England. . . . There is far less fog and damp than in 
England, and the perfectly calm, sunny days of midwinter 
are endurable; but the least breath of wind seems to chill 
one's very life. I had no idea what the suffering from 
extreme cold amounted to till one day, in Boston, I walked 
the length of the city and back again in a wind, with the 
thermometer seven degrees and a half below zero. . . . 

Every season, however, has its peculiar pleasures, and in 
the retrospect these shine out brightly, while the evils dis- 
appear. 

On a December morning you are awakened by the do- 
mestic, scraping at your hearth. Your anthracite fire has 
been in all night; and now the ashes are carried away, 
more coal is put on, and the blower hides the kindly red 

from you for a time Breakfast is always hot, 

be the weather what it may. The coffee is scalding, and 
the buclnvheat cakes steam when the cover is taken off. 
Your host's little boy asks whether he may go coasting to- 
day. . . . 

To coast is to ride on a board down a frozen slope, and 
many children do this in the steep streets which lead down 
to the Common. . . . Some sit on their heels on tlie 
board, some on their crossed legs. Some strike their legs 
out, put their arms akimbo, and so assume an air of defiance 
amid their velocity. Others prefer lying on their stomachs. 



29 

and so going headforemost, an attitude whose comfort 
could hardly enter into. Coasting is a wholesome exercise 
for hardy boys. Of course, they have to walk up the ascent, 
carrying their boards between every feat of coasting. . . . 

As for the sleighing, I heard much more than I experi- 
enced of its charms. . . . I do not know the author of 
a description of sleighing which was quoted to me, but I 
admire it for its fidelity. "Do you want to know what 
sleighing is like? You can soon try. Set your chair on 
a spring-board out on the porch on Christmas-day; put your 
feet in a pailful of powdered ice; have somebody to jingle a 
bell in one ear, and somebody else to blow into the other 
with the bellows, and you will have an exact idea of sleigh- 
ing." . . . 

If the streets be coated with ice, you put on your india- 
rubber shoes. ... If not, you are pretty sure to meas- 
ure your length on the pavement before your own 
door. . . . 

Nothing is seen in England like the streets of Boston and 
New York at the end of the season, while the thaw is pro- 
ceeding. . . . Carts tumble, slip, and slide, and get 
on as best they can; while the mass (of snow), now dirty, 
not only with thaw, but with quantities of refuse vegetables 
. . . and other rubbish . . . daily sinks and dis- 
solves into a composite mud. . . . 

If the morning drives are extended beyond the city, there 
is much to delight the eye. The trees are cased in ice ; and 
when the sun shines out suddenly, the whole scene looks 
like one diffused rainbow, dressed in a brilliancy which can 
hardly be conceived of in England. On days less bright, 
the blue ha.rbor spreads out in strong contrast with the 
sheeted snow, which extends to its very brink. 

Abridged from Harriet Martineau. 



30 

14. The White Mountains. 

The White ivlountains lie in the northeastern part of New 
Hampshire, eoveriug an area of about thirteen hundred 
square miles, These mountains are divided into two groups, 
the western group being the Franconia Mountains, and the 
eastern the Presidential Range, or the White Mountains 
proper. Between these two groups lies the Crawford 
Notch, or the White Mountain Notch. This Notch, bound- 
ing the Presidential Range on the southv/est, is a narrow 
valley about four miles long bordered by magnificent moun- 
tain-walls and traversed by the Saco River on its way to 
the Atlantic. . Other streams draining these beautiful 
mountains are the Pemigewasset River and the Ammonoo- 
suc, which jiow west to the Connecticut River. 

The Merrimac, too, rises in the White Mountains. Wliit- 
tier in his poem uses for these mountains the Indian name, 
"Agiochook," meaning "the Home of the Great Spirit." 
ITe says of the river : 

"Breaking the dull continuous wood, 
The Merrimac rolled down his -flood; 
Mingling that clear, pellucid brook. 
Which channels vast Agiochook 
When spring-time's sun and shower unlock 
The frozen fountains of the rock. 
And more abundant waters, given 
From that pure lake, "The Smile of Heaven," 
Tributes from vale and mountain-side. 
With ocean's dark, eternal tide!" 

The Franconia Mountains are not so high as the Presi- 
dential Range, Mount Lafayette with its fifty-two hundred 
feet being the highest. The Franconia Notch is a beauti- 
fully wooded ravine, about five miles long, through which 



31 

the Pemigewasset flows. The famous Flume is made by a 
little brook tributary to the Pemigewasset River, ''dashing 
along the bottom of a fissure for several hundred feet, bor- 
dered by high walls rising sixty to seventy feet above the 
torrent and only a few feet apart. The water rushes to- 
wards the Pemigewasset between these smooth, granite walls, 
and the awe-struck visitor walks through in startled ad- 
miration," says Joel Cook. 

Mount Cannon in this Franconia group, rising from Pro- 
file Lake, bears on its southeastern face the wonderful 
' ' Great Stone Face ' ' described, by Hawthorne. This ' ' Old 
Man of the Mountain" is a very striking rock effect, 
strongly resembling a man's face when viewed at a certain 
point. 

The Presidential Range has a number of peaks over five 
thousand feet higli, among them being Mount AdauLS, 
Mount Jefferson, i\Iount ^ladison, and Mount JMonroe. 
Towering over all is IMount AVashington, six thousand two 
hundred and eighty-six feet high. East of the Mississippi 
River there is no higher point except Mount Mitchell 
and a few other peaks in North Carolina. A carriage- 
road and an inclined-plane railway ascend the mountain, 
enabling visitors to get the wonderful view from its sum- 
mit. Thomas Starr King says: ''The first effect of stand- 
ing on the summit of Mount Washington is a bewdldering 
of the senses at the extent and lawlessness of the 
spectacle. It is as though we were looking upon 
a chaos. The land is tossed into a tempest." That endless 
succession of "billowy peaks," forest-covered, is amazing 
at all times, but especially so when the fires of the sun 
glow in burning colors at sunrise and sunset. 

Starr King, who loved these hills, describes thus the 
glories of Mount Washington : ' ' The storms of untold thou- 



32 

sands of years have chiselled lines of expression in the 
mountain, whose grace and charm no landscape gardening 
on a lowland can rival; and the bloom of the richest con- 
servatory would look feeble in contrast with the hues that 
often, in morning and evening, or in the pomp of autumn 
and the winter desolation, have glowed upon it, as though 
the art of God was concentrated in making it outblush 
the rose, or dim the sapphire with its flame." 

15. New York State. 

''The Empire State" is famous not only for its wealth, 
its manufactures, and its great cities, but also for the many 
and varied beauties of its woods and Avaters. 

In the northeast lie the Adirondack Mountains, splendid 
in beauty. Great forests cover these mountains, and here 
and there are seen lovely lakes, such as Saranac Lake, or 
Lake Placid. The highest peak of the group is Mount 
Marcy. Although only about a mile high, the Indians call 
it the ''Cloud Splitter." Scattered farms and villages are 
found, but it is chiefly in summer that the mountains wake 
to the sounds of life. Thousands come then to enjoy the 
pure, sparkling waters and the balmy air. 

Flowing from the jnountains into Lake Champlain is the 
Ausable River. Near its mouth, the river enters Ausable 
Chasm, a deep, narrow gorge, two miles long, remarkable 
for its wild, picturesque beauty. 

Lake Champlain forms the northeastern boundary of the 
State. This splendid sheet of water is one hundred and 
twenty miles long, and all along this distance we find beau- 
tiful scenery. 

Emptying into it by a narrow creek is the loveliest of all 
lakes. Lake George. It is not a large lake, being only about 
thirtv-six miles long: but the surrounding mountains and 



33 

the exquisitely beautiful islets that meet the eye at every 
turn sfive to it a peaceful beauty all its own. 

The Niagara Eiver in western New York forms one of the 
world's show places. This river issues from Lake Erie at 
Buffalo, and running north for about thirty-five miles, it 
enters Lake Ontario. At Goat Island, about half-way in 
its course, the river is divided into the two great falls that 
we call Niagara Falls. Horseshoe Fall, on the Canadian 
side, takes most of the water, though the American Fall is 
somewhat higher, being one hundred and sixty-seven feet 
high. Below the cataract for seven miles the river flow^s 
through a wild gorge, whose vertical walls are two hundred 
and fifty feet high. Here the waters toss and foam in a 
mad frenzy. To see them fills one with an awe almost as 
great as that caused by the plunge of the water at the Falls 
themselves. 

A ride in the brave little "Maid of the Mist" gives one 
some idea of this mass of water and its terrible power. In 
vain the sunbeams play over the water; they cannot take 
away one's sense of being in the presence of an awful force 
of nature. 

Charles Dickens, the English writer, said that when he 
looked at Niagara, he felt how near he was to the Creator. 
"Still do those waters roar and rush, and leap and tumble 
all day long! Still are the rainbows spanning them one 
hundred feet below! Still, when the sun is on them, do 
they shine like molten gold ! Still, when the day is gloomy, 
do they seem to crumble like a great chalk cliff, or like a 
mass of dense, white smoke." 

i6. The Adirondacks. 

The Adirondack wilderness is essentially unbroken. A 
few bad roads that penetrate it, a few jolting wagons that 



34 

traverse them, a few barn-like boarding-hoiises on the edge 
of the forest ... do little to destroy the savage fascina- 
tion of the region. In half an hour, at any point, one can 
put himself into solitude and every desirable discomfort. 
The party that covets the experience of the camp comes 
down to primitive conditions of dress and equipment. 
There are guides and porters to carry the blankets for 
beds, the raw provisions, and the camp equipage; and the 
motley party . . . files into the woods. . . . Moun- 
tains are painfully climbed, streams forded, lonesome 
lakes paddled over, long and muddy "carries" traversed. 
. . . The hammering of the infrequent woodpecker, the 
call of the lonely bird, the drumming of the solitary 
partridge,— ail these sounds clo but emphasize the lonesome- 
ness of nature. The roar of the mountain brook, dashing 
over its bed of pebbles, rising out of the ravine, and spread- 
ing, as it were, a mist of sound through all the forest . . ., 
and the fitful movement of the air-tides through the bal- 
sams and firs and the giant pines,— how these grand sym- 
phonies shut out the little exasj^erations of our vexed 
life! . . . 

When our trampers come, late in the afternoon, to the 
ban^ of a lovely lake where they purpose to enter the 
primitive life, everything is waiting for them in virgn ex- 
pectation. There is a little promontory jutting into the 
lake, and sloping down to a sandy beach ; . . . the forest 
is untouched by the axe; the tender green sweeps the 
water's edge; ranks of slender firs are marshalled by the 
shore; clumps of white-birch stems shine in satin purity 
among the evergreens; the loles of giant spruces, maples, 
and oaks, lifting high their crowns of foliage, stretch away 
in endlass galleries and arcades ; through the shifting leaves 
the sunshine falls upon the brown earth; overhead are 



35 

fragments of blue sky; under the boughs and in chance 
openings appear the bluer lake and the outline of the gra- 
cious niountains. The discoverers of this paradise . . . 
note the babbling of the brook that flows close at hand; 
they hear the splash of the leaping fish; they listen to the 
sweet, metallic song of the evening thrush, and the chatter 
of the red squirrel, who angrily challenges their right 
to be there. . . . 

The spot for the shanty is cleared of underbrush. . . . 
In an incredible space of time there is the skeleton of a 
house. . . . Meantime, busy hands have gathered boughs 
of the spruce and the feathery balsam, and shingled the 
ground underneath the shanty for a bed. . . . Upon it 
are spread the blankets. , . 

Darkness falls suddenly. Outside the ring of light from 
our conflagration the woods are black. . . . We are the 
prisoners of the night. The woods never seemed so vast 
and mysterious. The trees are gigantic. ... We hear 
catamounts, and the stealthy tread of things in the leaves, 
and the hooting of the owls, and, when the moon rises, 
the laughter of the loon. Everything is strange, spectral, 
fascinating. 
Ahridged from ''Camping Ont" by Charles Dudley Warner. 

17. The Hudson and Its City. 

The Hudson's real source is a small lake in the Adiron- 
dajck Mountains, called "Tear of the Clouds." For beauty 
of «cenery no American river can equal the Hudson, and. a 
ride down the river gives a day of beautiful sights to the 
traveler. We catch a glimpse of many towns along the route, 
but nothing interests us more than the view we get of West 
Point. Here on a beautiful plateau, about fifty miles north 
of the City of New York, is the site of the United States 



36 

Military Academy. This famous school for soldiers was the 
scene of Benedict Arnold's treason; yon remember that 
when he Avas in command here in 1780, he tried to betray it 
to the British, winning- for himself the most despised name 
in American history. 

The Academy was established in 1802. The cadets are 
appointed on the recommendation of a Congressman or the 
President, after which a severe entrance examination in 
certain studies must be passed. The course lasts four years, 
and gives an excellent military training. So high is the 
standard that less than half of those who enter are able to 
graduate. 

Farther down the river we come to the Palisades, a bold 
bluff, or precipice, stretching along the western shore of 
the Hudson for about eighteen miles. The Palisades 
are nearly straight, and in some places they rise to the height 
of five hundred feet. At their end we reach the greatest 
city of America, New York. 

Three and a half millions of people live in this city, gath- 
ered from almost every land on the globe. Some of the 
richest men in the world live here, while the ''East Side" 
packs into its tenement-houses some of the poorest and most 
wretched of human beings. 

Broadway is its chief business street, a bustle of life and 
motion the year through. Every one is hurrying and rush- 
ing along, the people tilling the sidewalks as the numerous 
vehicles ciowd the street itself. The "sky-scrapers" are 
immense office buildings, sometimes twenty-five stories high. 

Wall Street is another great street. It is the street for 
the brokers, who buy and sell shares in railroads, mines, 
telegraphs, etc. Such shares are called stoclvs ; and from the 
gallery of the Stock Exchange on Wall Street, we can see 
these excited men rushing about madly, buying or selling, 



37 

winning or losing a fortnne, as it may be. "Billions of dol- 
lars change hands on that floor every year." 

Fifth Avenue is another well-known street, once the 
''foremost street of wealth and fashion in the United 
States." 

At the corner of Wall Street and Broadway is old Trin- 
ity Church, the wealthiest church in our country. Beside 
its quiet, brownstone walls is a churchyard where lie many 
of America's famous dead. Here is the tomb of Robert 
Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat; here, too, lies 
Alexander Hamilton, the great statesman who did so much 
to establish our government in 1789. 

Central Park is a very fine pleasure ground in the city. 
It occupies about eight hundred acres, beautifully arranged 
with many miles of drives and foot-paths. 

East River shows four magnificent bridges spanning it, 
two of which are complete and in use. The most famous, 
though not the largest, is Brooklyn Bridge, joining Brook- 
lyn with JManhattan Island, on which New York city 
proper is situated. This bridge is made of stone and steel, 
and is over a mile long. It is eighty-five feet wide, and 
contains two tracks for cars, two for wagons and carriages, 
and one for pedestrians. The floor of the bridge is one 
hundred and thirty-five feet above the water at high tide, 
so that the largest vessels readily pass under it. Four 
enormous cables support the bridge, each cable consisting 
of five thousand wires. These cables go to the tops of the 
stone towere at each end of the bridge. They are then 
taken about nine hundred feet "inshore from the towers, 
where they are secured under a weight of about sixty "thou- 
sand tons of masonry." 

The bridge was completed in 1883, after thirteen years' 
labor, the cost being about sixteen million dollars. It was 



designed by John A. Koebling and built by his son. After 
three years' work his health broke down, and he was com- 
pelled to remain indoors as an invalid. He did not give 
np, however, but by means of a telescope, he watched the 
work and sent his orders to the builders day by day for ten 
years, until the bridge was completed. 

One other point of interest in New York is Ellis Island. 
Here the vast numbers of immigrants that come every week 
are landed and examined. Paupers and other bad classes 
of people are sent back to the country from which they 
came, while those able to take care of theiiLselves are per- 
mitted to enter the great land of Freedom. 

Perhaps we can give a slight idea of New York's im- 
portance by saying that it is the second city in the world 
in commerce and business. Two-thirds of the imports into 
the United States enter New York, and one- third of our 
exports leave by that port. There is no city in America 
that can compare with it as a business centre. 

i8. "The Keystone State." 

Peiuisylvania is called "The Keystone State" because 
it had a central place among the thirteen colonies, like the 
keystone of an arch. 

Its area is about forty-five thousand square miles, the 
length from east to west being three hundred and five 
milas. Its southern boundary is ''Mason and Dixon's 
Line." This "line" was surveyed by Charles Mason and 
Jeremiah Dixon, two English surveyors employed by Wil- 
liam Penn and Lord Baltimore to fix the boundary line 
between Pennsylvania and Maryland. Their work took 
about four years, being completed in 1767. 

The surface of the State is much varied. In the south- 
east, it lies in the level Atlantic Plain, and this region is 



39 

a fine agriciiltural section. Next come the parallel ranges 
of the Appalachians, stretching across the State from 
northeast to southwest. In the west, north, and northeast 
we have a flat plateau, the Alleghany Plateau. 

'J'hese numerous inountain ranges give the State fine 
scenery. The Blue or Kittatinny Mountain is remarkable 
for the breaks made in the chain by great rivers. The 
place where the Delaware River passes through is called 
the Delaware AVater Gap. It is a narrow gorge whose 
steep walls tower over a thousand feet above the dashing 
water. Mount Minsi on the Pennsylvania side and Mount 
Tammany on the Jersey shore, each about fifteen hundred 
feet high, "guard the passage." 

The chief rivers of the State are the Delaware, with its 
branches, the Lehigh and the Schuylkill j the Susquehanna, 
with the beautiful, blue Juniata as its main branch; and 
the Ohio Avith its forming streams, the Alleghany and the 
!\rono]igahe]a. 

Tlie Sus([uehanna is chieiiy used for floating timber, for 
hujibering is an important occupation in the mountain 
forests of the West Branch of this river. Pennsyl- 
vania's forests have suffered from careless use, but efforts 
are being made to correct this. Arbor Day is for the pur- 
pose of encouraging tree planting, and it is observed twice 
a year in the schools of the State. Trees apart from their 
beauty and their value as timber are of great use to man, 
AVhere there are no forests, the melting snows and heavy 
rains of spring flow directly from the ground into the 
rivers and make them overflow, thus causing innnense 
destruction of property every year. The roots of the 'trees 
in forests take up this moisture from rain and snow and 
thus prevent these floods. Every tree is therefore worthy 
of our care and attention, as man's good friend. 



40 

The Ohio is remarkabJe for the enormous quantities of 
coal and petroleum it floats down to southern markets. 
Half the coal of the United States comes from Pennsj^l- 
vania. It is of two kinds,— hard, or anthracite, coal, and 
soft, or bituminous, coal. Anthracite coal is found east 
of the Suscjuehanna Kiver. Its immense value can be seen 
from the fact that in 1903 over seventy million tons of 
it were mined. Bituminous coal lies to the west of the 
Alleghany Mountains. In 1903, there were mined over 
one hundred million tons of this soft coal. 
> Let us visit a coal mine. We enter a car like an eleva- 
tor and go down a deep shaft into the earth below. Now 
we see why we fastened the little tin lamp in our hat-band. 
In walking through tunnel after tunnel cut out of the rock, 
we see the blackened faces of the miners, as they dig the 
coal out of the veins in the earth. These tunnels are sup- 
ported by wooden beams, and the thought that the mass 
of earth rests on these supports makes us wish we were out 
of the gloomy place. , See how the miners load the coal in 
little cars ! AVhen full, mules draw it along a rough track 
to the foot of the shaft or take it out of the mine along the 
plane. 

What a dangerous life the miner leads ! Often the walls 
fall in, crushing some of the men to death. Sometimes th-^ 
water that is found in all mines becomes bej^ond control, 
and drowns these brave toilers. Fire-damp is the most 
dreaded danger. This is an explosive gas which sometimes 
forms in mines. If it is set on fire by a miner's flaring 
lamp or by a chance match, a great explosion results, which 
caves in the walls. This buries the men under tons of 
earth, or else, by blocking up the tunnel, shuts th(Mii up to 
die of hunger and thirst. 



41 

We feel very glad indeed to come up once more into the 
sunlight, away from all these dangers. 

The coal coming up from the mines has much stone and 
slate in it. It is taken to the top of a large wooden build- 
ing called a breaker, and by means of machinery the large 
lumps are separated into different sizes. After boys, 
called "breaker boys," have picked out the slate and stone 
from the passing coal, it is ready for market. 

19. *'The Keystone State" (continued). 

Pittsburgh, lying at the junction of the Alleghany and 
the Monongahela, is a great city. Its river commerce is 
enormous and so is the amount of its iron and steel manu- 
factures. It produces more than half of all the steel made 
in the United States, and at least one-fourth of the pig- 
iron. It may v/ell be called ''The Iron City." 

The manufacture of coke is the first step to the making 
of iron. Coal is placed in immense ovens and is roasted 
slowly for about seventy-two hours in intense heat to 
change it into coke. This coke is what the great, tall blast- 
furnaces in Pittburgh must have. Repeated layers of 
iron ore as dug from the earth, coke, and limestone are 
piled in the furnace. Then by the aid of intense heat they 
are melted into one glowing mass. When ready, the bright 
fluid mass is allowed to flow out of the furnace into sand. 
The slag, or iron impurities, being on top, is easily removed, 
and the pure iron is run into rough molds to form it into 
the oblong pieces we call pig-iron. From this pig-iron, 
steel and various kinds of iron manufactures can be made. 

Many of the iron-worl^, glass-works, and other manu- 
factories of Pittsburgh use natural gas as fuel. This gas 
is found in many places throughout this region, wells be- 
ing bored into the ground to obtain it. Sometimes it is 



42 

reached only at a depth of U\o thoiLsaiid feet, an iron pipe 
being used to carry it to the surface. 

Pittsburgh receives its natural gas from a considerable 
distance, twenty miles of iron pipe bringing it into the 
city. To simply turn a stop-cock and have nature supply 
a fuel without smoke or cinders seems wonderful. 

This great city is also the outlet of the oil-fields of west- 
ern Pennsylvania. The first oil-well was sunk at Titusville, 
oil being obtained in 1859. Soon hundreds of wells were 
drilled, the best being the deep ones, a thousand to tAvo thou- 
sand feet deep. When the oil is reached, it gushes up or is 
pumped up to the surface. Each well has a tank connected 
with it, holding two hundred and fifty barrels. From this 
a pipe leads to a larger tank, containing possibly ten thou- 
sand barrels. Iron pipes about six inches wide are laid be- 
neath the surface, and hy this jupe-line the oil is drawn to 
Chicago, Buffalo, Jersey City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
and other cities. 

Immense tanks are placed at convenient distances to 
store the oil, a pumping-station being placed every thirty 
miles or so. 

No visit to Pennsylvania would l)e ('om])lete without a 
view of Gettysburg. At this little town in 1868 occurred 
one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. For three 
days the heroes of the North and the South fought for the 
mastery with daring bravery. Finally General Lee had 
to give up the fight and return southward. On November 
19, 1868, President Lincoln dedicated the battle-field as a 
national cemetery with that wonderful speech ending with 
the call to resolve "that this nation, under God, shall have 
a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the 
people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from 
the earth." This National Cemetery with its many fine 



43 

monuments is one of the most beautiful in the country, a 
mark of the love of the American people for bravery and 
heroism. 

20. Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia, the metropolis of "The Keystone State," 
is situated in the southeastern part of the State, on the 
west bank of the Delaware River, about one hundred miles 
from the sea. It is a vast city in size, covering nearly -one 
hundred and thirty square miles. To the great middle 
class, it probably gives more comfort than any other large 
city. Its population of over a million is not crowded into 
fiats or tenements; every family can have its own four 
walls, and it deserves its claim to be a "city of homes." 

The streets are remarkably regular and pleasing in ap- 
pearance, lined as a rule with substantial brick dwellings. 
Broad Street and the western part of Walnut Street show 
many imposing residences, while in the suburbs of Chest- 
nut Hill and Germantown, really beautiful homes are seen, 
surrounded by charming lawns and gardens. 

The two great business streets are 'Market Street and 
Chestnut Street, the latter being famous for its handsome 
shops. 

One of the most attractive features of the city is Fair- 
mount Park. This wonderful pleasure ground covers 
about three thousand acres, open alike to rich and poor. 
The magnificent drive-way along the Schuylkill River and 
the winding paths of the glen of the Wissahickon are con- 
trasts in beauty unsurpassed. Grass and flowers and trees 
spread their charms everywhere ; merry groups of children 
at play add a touch of life to the scene, while the sweet 
notes of the birds fill the air with melody. 



44 

The Park takes its name from the ''Fair Mount" that 
William Penn named when he rode out once to the high 
hill at what is now the end of Callowhill Street. ]\Iany 
other great names in our history are suggested by the 
monuments and the buildings in the Park. We can men- 
tion but a few of these. 

Robert Morris, the man whose wealth helped Washing- 
ton ^vin the Revolution, lived in the fine mansion at Lemon 
Hill. This house he called ''The Hills," and Washington 
often visited his friend there, after the war was over. 

Mount Pleasant was in its day a fine residence. Benedict 
Arnold purchased it when he married beautiful "Peggy" 
Shippen, but it passed to other hands when he turned trai- 
tor to his country. 

Belmont Mansion was the home of another friend of 
Washington's, the popular Judge Peters. Its glorious 
view is as beautiful to-day as it was in those early days. 

The cottage, incorrectly given by legend as the residence 
of the Irish poet, Thomas Moore, when he visited Philadel- 
phia in 1804, is still standing in the Park. There, too, is 
General Grant's Cabin, his headquarters when in Virginia, 
during the great Civil War. The dainty little brick home 
of Letitia Penn, built for her in 1682-83 by her father, 
William Penn, on i\Iarket Street near Second, now graces 
this great Park. This is the oldest building in Pennsyl- 
vania. It was torn do^\ai and rebuilt in its original shape 
in the Park. Horticultural Hall with its beautiful flowers 
and Memorial Hall with its pictures recall the busy days 
when the Centennial Exposition of 1876 was held here. 
Philadelphia is justly proud of Fairmount Park, so rich 
in the beauties of nature and art. 

To the visitor Philadelphia offers a mine of interest in 
its historic buildngs. 



45 

Carpenters' Hall, in the rear of the south side of Chest- 
nut Street, near Third, was the scene of the meeting of the 
First Continental Congress. Its name came from the fact 
that the Carpenters' Company built the hall in 1771. 
"Within these walls, Henry, Hancock, and Adams inspired 
the delegates of the colonies with nerve and sinew for the 
toils of war resulting in national independence." At the 
opening of this Congress, the Rev. Mr. Duche read the Thir- 
ty-fifth Psalm, beginning "Plead thou my cause, Lord, 
with them that strive with me, and fight Thou against them 
that fight against me. Lay hand upon the shield and 
buckler, and .stand up to help me." These words seemed 
a good omen for the struggling colonists.. It seemed as 
though Heaven were on their side. 

The Second Continental Congress continued the work of 
the first, but in a more famous building. They met in the 
Statehouse, now called Independence Hall, which stands 
on Chestnut Street, between Fifth and Sixth. Here on 
July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted 
by Congress; this document, written by Thomas Jefferson, 
proclaimed to all mankind the birth of a new nation, where 
all men had the same political rights. 

In Independence Hall stands to-day the beloved Liberty 
Bell. Brought from London in 1752, the bell bears the 
motto "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all 
the inhabitants thereof." 

This noble bell, true to its motto, announced every great 
event in the history of the Revolution. It rang its loudest 
note when the Congress adopted the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, defying the might of England; and its tones re- 
echoed in the beats of exulting hearts when the treaty of 
peace was signed in 1783, acknowledging our independence. 
It is no wonder that the people of America venerate this 



46 

old Liberty Bell, silent, but most eloquent of the past and 
its fight for freedom. 

Henry James says : ' ' There is positively nothing of In- 
dependence Hall, of its fine old Georgian amplitude and 
decency, its large serenity and symmetry of pink and drab, 
and its actual emphasis of detachment from the vulgar 
brush of things, that is not charming; and there is noth- 
ing, the city through, that doesn't receive a mild side-light, 
that of a reflected interest, from is neighborhood. 

Christ Church and old Swedes' Church are two of the 
city's historic churches. 

Christ Church is located on Second Street, near Market, 
and was founded soon after the city itself. The present 
structure dates from 1727. Its steeple once held a crown, 
but after the country became a republic, a bishop's miter 
took the place of the royal crown. 

Many great men have belonged to this church. When 
Philadelphia was the national capital, Washington was one 
of its regular attendants. Robert Morris, Lafayette, John 
Adams, and Benjamin Franklin were among those who 
worshipped here in days gone by. In the church's ceme- 
tery at Fifth and Arch Streets, under a plain stone, rest 
the remains of possibly the greatest of these— Benjamin 
Franklin. 

For almost two hundred years, service has been held in 
old Swedes' Church, "Gloria Dei," near Front and Chris- 
tian Streets. The Swedish colonists built this fine church 
in 1700, many coming great distances to worship there. 
Its bell bore the inscription : 

*M to the church the living call. 
And to the grave I summon all.'' 



47 

We have not time to speak of the Chew house, in Ger- 
niantown; of the Betsy Ross House, at 239 Arch Street; 
of the house and garden of John Bartram, the great Quaker 
botanist; of Girard College, that magnificent monument to 
Stephen rxirard, the orphans' benefactor; of the City Hall, 
that great marble building erected at a cost of over twenty- 
five million dollars, A score of places could be named, 
worthy our attention. Indeed, no city has more material 
to repay historical study than Philadelphia, the quiet, old 
city of ' ' Brotherly Love. ' ' 

21. Maryland. 

Pennsylvania's neighbor to the south is the fair State of 
Maryland. This State is divided into two parts by Chesa- 
peake Bay, a great arm of the Atlantic, two hundred miles 
in length. 

When Jolm Smith in 1607, first entered Chesapeake Bay, 
he was charmed with it. "There is but one entrance to 
this country," he wrote. "The cape on the south is called 
Cape Henry ; the narth cape is called Cape Charles. With- 
in is a country that may have the prerogatives over the most 
pleasant places known, for earth and heaven never agreed 
better to frame a place for man's habitation." 

Four historic rivers flow into this great bay, and on its 
waters move many ships, bearing away the products of its 
fertile shores. 

One peculiar industry of Chesapeake Bay is oyster-rais- 
ing. In most cases the oysters grow of themseli^es in the 
shallow waters along the coast; in other cases oyster-farms 
are made, where the oyster eggs are put, and allowed to 
fasten themselves to shells thrown into the water. The 
oyster egg is very tiny, looking like a small, white dot. 
It must fasten itself to a stone, a shell, or other hard sub- 



48 

stance during its growth, and it will not reach its full 
growth for at least four yeare. The oyster has no head, 
no nose, and no eyes ; but it has a mouth, a stomach, a heart, 
and lungs. Oysters are taken from their beds either by 
tonging with a pair of tongs, or by dredging, with great 
dredges, or shovels, moved by machinery. Dredging is very 
wasteful, but it is the method the pirates use. It seems 
strange to have oyster pirates ! The oyster-beds are under 
the protection of the State, and armed vessels patrol the 
waters to prevent the pirates from ruining the supply of 
oysters by dredging in the shallow waters. These oyster 
pirates are very daring, and have vessels fitted up with 
rifles and sometimes even with cannon*. They treat their 
crews very harshly, often making them work from four in 
the morning until ten at night, exposed to rain and snow 
all the winter. Their food is bread and coffee; they are 
frequently beaten, and they are often cheated out of their 
hard earnings. 

The capital of Maryland is Annapolis, a quaint, quiet 
old city on the Severn River. It was founded in 1649 as 
Providence. The present name of Annapolis dates from 
1708, having been given in honor of Queen Anne, w^ho ^Yas 
then the ruler of England. 

At Annapolis we And the United States Naval Academy. 
This is under the control of the United States, and is in- 
tended to train officers for the United States navy. The 
course la^tssix years, the last two years being spent at sea. 
To be ad^iitted to the xVcademy a young man must be rec- 
ommended by the Congressman of his district or by the 
President, and must pass an examination in certain studies. 

The metropolis of the State is Baltimore, the sixth city 
of the Union as regards x^opulation. It lies on the Patapsco 
Kiver, fourteen miles from Chesapeake Bay. Its numerous 



49 

monuments have given it the name of ''The Monument 
City," the chief one being a monument to Washington. 

The public buildings are noted for their beauty, and its 
university, the Johns Hopkins University, is famous 
throughout the country for its scholarship. 

The fire of 1304 was very destructive, causing a loss of 
fifty million dollars, but the city rose again, as great as 
ever. Its manufactures, its enormous canning interests 
turning out over fifty million cans a year, and its great 
grain commerce with Europe make it an important city. 

The greatest historical interest attaches to the city from 
its connection with "The Star-Spangled Banner," for it 
was here our national ode was composed. 

Francis Scott Key, a resident of Georgetown, D. C, had 
gone with a friend in the ' ' Minden, ' ' under a flag of truce, 
to secure the release of Dr. Beanes, who had been captured 
by the British. Admiral Cochrane agreed to release him, but 
refused to permit the party to return then, as the British 
fleet was preparing to attack Fort McHenry, at the en- 
trance of Baltimore Harbor. When the fleet was off the 
fort. Key and his friends were placed on the "Minden," 
which was anchored within sight of the fort. The three 
men anxiously watched the bombardment all the night, 
not knowing whether the fort would yield or not. At dawn 
of September 14, 1814, they saw by their glasses that the 
American flag was still flying on the fort. The British 
soon withdrew, baffled and defeated, while the Star- 
Spangled Banner floated proudly in triumph. Key wrote 
the substance of the song on the back of a letter he hap- 
pened to have in his pocket. Its glorious words are dear 
to every American heart : 



50 

''Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light, 
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleam- 
ing. 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the clouds 

of the fight, 
O'er the ramparts w^e Avatched were so gallantly stream- 
ing? 
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still 

there. 
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
'er the land of the free and the home of the brave 1 ' ' 

That banner, as Key said, does wave and will ever wave 
"o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." 

22. Washington, 

Washington is the capital of the United States. It is 
in the District of Columbia, on the north bank of the Poto- 
mac River. 

The city was planned with Capitol Hill as a centre. It 
has fine, regular streets, the chief one being the beautiful 
Pennsylvania Avenue, one hundred and sixty feet wide. 
Charming little paries with fountains and trees are found 
throughout the city, where several streets meet. 

Of all the public buildings in Washington, the chief one is 
the vast Capitol, whose corner-stone was laid by Washing- 
ton himself, in 1793. Part of the building is freestone, 
and part marble. The principal front has three fine 
Grecian porticoes. Above the central rotunda is a great 
iron dome, visible in almost all parts of the city. The 
Rotunda's paintings are famous, but to us the most inter- 
esting parts of the building are the Senate chamber, the 



51 

hall of the House of Representatives, and the Supreme 
Court room. 

The Senate and the House of Representatives are to- 
gether called Congress, and it is their duty to make the 
laws of our nation. 

The hall of the House is the largest legislative hall in 
the world. Each representative has his own desk, and 
these desks are arranged in a curve around a platform at 
one side. This platform bears the marble desk of the 
Speaker, who keeps order in the House and guides its 
action. 

The Senate is a smaller body than the House, there being 
only two senators from each State. The presiding officer 
here is the vice-president of the United States. 

The Supreme Court consists of nine men, who while in 
session, wear long gowns of black silk. They sit behind 
a long mahogany table at the back of the room, each justice 
having an armchair. The chief justice sits in the center. 
This dignified, wise body of men is the highest court in 
the land. If they declare that a law violates, or breaks, 
the Constitution, it is no longer a law; and their decision 
is final. 

Henry James says : ' ' I may as well say at once that I 
found myself from the first adoring the Capitol, though 
I may not pretend here to dot all the i's of my reasons." 
He thinks our national relation to the Capitol is that of 
a huge family to the family's place of business. They meet 
there sociably, "not as in a temple or a citadel, but by the 
warm, domestic hearth of Columbia herself, a motherly, 
chatty, clear-spectacled Columbia, who reads all the news- 
papers, knows, to the last man, every one of her sons by 
name, and, to the last boy, even her grandsons. ' ' 



52 

East of the Capitol ls the magnificent Congressional 
Jjibrary. It covers nearly four acres of ground, and con- 
tains over a million books and pamphlets. With its granite 
walls, its polished marble stairways and corridors, and its 
superb wall paintings, it is indeed one the most beautiful 
buildings in the world. 

A mile and a half from the Capitol is the President's 
house, connnonly called the White HoiLse. It is built of 
freestone, painted to resemble marble, and stands sur- 
rounded by beautiful grounds. The President's duty is to 
execute the laws of the Union; and to compel obedience he 
can, if necessary, command the service of the army and the 
navy. 

His term lasts four years, and his salary is fifty thousand 
dollars a year. 

The beautiful East Room, with its silver chandeliers, its 
great mirrors, and its walls painted in silver and gold is 
used for parties and receptions. In the dainty Blue Room 
the President stands to shake hands with his visitors at 
these receptions. His office is his workroom, for he is a 
very busy man. The massive oak table here was made 
from the timbers of the British ship ' ' Resolute. ' ' In 1845, 
Sir John Franklin had taken an expedition from England 
to find the Northwest Passage. He never returned. Thir- 
ty-nine relief expeditions went in search of the missing ex- 
plorer, and one of these found that Franklin had died in 
the Arctic regions in 1847. Of those that failed, the 
"Resolute" was one, and the British had abandoned it in 
the ice, until an American whaling-vessel rescued it. In 
1881, Queen Victoria presented to the President a table 
made of the wood of the "Resolute," and this is the table. 

The Treasury Department is a most interesting place to 
visit, for in its vaults are stored millions of dollars' worth 



53 

of silver and gold. Interesting, also, is the Bureau of En- 
graving and Printing, for here the paper money of the 
country is printed. Every sheet of paper and every print- 
ing plate is carefully guarded to prevent fraud. When 
printed, the new notes are hauled to the Treasury Depart- 
ment. 

The destruction of the old notes is quite as interesting. 
'J'liese old notes are ground up by machinery into pulp,^ 
sometimes a million dollars' worth of money being ground 
up at one time. 

Of the many monuments in the city the most famous is 
the tall shaft of marble called the Washington Monument. 
It is five hundred and fifty-five feet high and was built at 
a cost of $1,300,000. It is hollow, and contains an elevator 
that will take you to the top, if you want to get the view 
from the highest stone building in the world. 

About fifteen miles from Washington is Mount Vernon, 
once the home of George Washington. It is a wooden 
building, having two stories and an attic, and stands on a 
bluff, two hundred feet above the river. Its wide piazza 
with high, square pillars faces a beautiful lawn. 

Washington's tomb near the mansion is a plain, brick 
structure with an arched gateway in front. In 1859, the 
mansion and grounds were purchased by the Ladies ' Mount 
Vernon Association, so that it is now a national possession, 
sacred to the memory of the noble Washington. Yet 
neither this nor the tall obelisk that bears his name is 
needed to make Washington immortal. His deeds have 
given him an eternal abiding'-place in the hearts of his 
countrymen. 
23. The Natural Bridge. 

This wonderful curiosity is in southern Virginia, about 
one hundred and twenty-five miles from the capital, Rich- 



54 

inond. It is not simply a rock spanning a chasm ; it is a 
clear-cut arch of a whitish gray color, carved out of lime- 
stone by nature itself. Were it for the earth above the 
rock bearing great trees, one might believe it man's work. 
Tw^o hundred feet below lies a deep ravine crossed by 
Cedar Creek. Man has used the bridge to bear a wide 
roadway, for wagons and carriages. 

Clifton Johnson says: ''The road is fenced, and is bor- 
dered by trees and biishes, and without investigation you 
would never suspect but that you were on solid earth. In- 
deed, it is related that an army passed along this road dur- 
ing the Civil War, and not a man of the thousands in the 
eo^imand realized at the time that he wa^ crossing the 
famous Natural Bridge." 

General Strother describes the Bridge thus : 

''In front and below them was the yawning gorge, 
rugged and wild, clothed as it were in somber shadows, 
through which the light glanced from the cascades of Cedar 
Creek. . . . Above, witli its outline of tree and rock 
cutting sharp against the blue sky, rose the eternal arch, 
so massive yet so light. . . . There are few objects in 
nature which so entirely fill the soul as this bridge in its 
unique and simple grandeur. ' ' 

Edward Pollard in his description of it says: "More 
than two hundred feet below is the creek, apparently mo- 
tionless, except where it flashes with light as it breaks on 
an obstruction in the channel; there are trees, attaining to 
grander heights as they ascend the face of the pier; and 
far below this bed of verdure, the majestic rock rises with 
the decision of a wall. . . . But the most effective 
view is from the base of the bridge. . . . Standing by 
the rippling, gushing waters of the creek, and raising your 
eyes to the arch, massive and yet light and beautiful from 



55 

its height, . . . you gaze on the great work of nature 
m wonder and astonishment." 

It is "interesting to know that Washington when a boy 
climbed this steep rock, and carved his name high on the 
rocky wall of the chasm, twenty-five feet from the base. 
A [any others have cut their names above Washington's. 
Early in the hist century one of these adventurous spirits 
climbed up too far to get down again. His companions 
could give him no aid, and expected each moment to see 
him fall down to certain death on tKe rocks below. "Not 
so with himself. He determined to ascend. Accordingly 
he plied his knife, cutting places for his hands and feet 
in the soft limestone, and gradually ascended with great 
labor. ... He cut his way not far from two hundred and 
fifty feet from the water, in a course almost perpendicular ; 
and in less than two hours his anxious companions reached 
him a pole* from the top and drew him up." 

24. 'J^Virginia before the Civil War. 

The gardens f there were two: the vegetable garden and 
the flower garden) were separate. The former was the test 
of the mistress's power; for at the most critical times she 
took the best hands on the place to work it. The latter was 
the proof of her taste. . . . " Honeysuckles -ran riot over 
its palings, perfuming the air; yellow cowslips in well-regu- 
lated tufts edged some border-s, while sweet peas, pinks, and 
violets spread out recklessly ever others; jonquils, yelloAV as 
gold, and, once planted, blooming every spring as certainly 
as the trees budded or the birds nested, grew in thick 
bunches, and everywhere were tall lilies, white as angels' 
wings and stately as the maidens that walked among them; 



*This entire selection is from Thomas Nelson Page's "The Old South", copy- 
righted, 1892, by Charles Scribner's Sons. It is used by their kind permission. 



56 

bis: snow-ball bushes blooming; with snow, lilacs purple and 
white and sweet in the spring, and always with birds' nests 
in them with the bluest of eggs. , . , 

But the flower of all others was the rose. There were 
roses everywhere; clambering roses over the porches and 
windows, sending their fragrance into the rooms; roses 
beside the walks; roses around the yard and in the gar- 
den ; roses of every hue and delicate refinement of per- 
fume ; rich yellow roses thick on their briery bushes, com- 
ing almost with the dandelions and buttercups, before 
any others dared face the April showers to learn if March 
had truly gone . . . followed by the Giant of Battles on 
their stout stems, glorious enough to have been the worthy 
badge of victorioiLs Lancastrian kings; white Yorks hardly 
less royal; cloth-of-golds ; dainty teas; rich damasl^; old 
sweet hundred-leafs, sifting down their petals on the grass 
and always filling with two the place where one had fallen. 
These and many more made the air fragrant, while the 
catbirds and mocking-birds fluttered and sang among 
them, and the robins foraged in the grass for their yellow- 
throated little ones, waiting in the half -hidden nests. 

Looking out over the fields was a scene not to be for- 
gotten. Let me give it in the words of one who knew and 
loved Virginia well, and was her best interpreter— Dr. 
George W. Bagby. . . . ''Wide, very wide fields of wav- 
ing grain, billoA\^' seas of green or gold as the season chanced 
to be, over Avhich the scudding shadows chased and played, 
gladdened the heart with wealth far spread. Upon lowlands 
level as the floor the plumed and tasseled corn stood tall and 
dense. ... . The rich dark soil of the gently swelling knolls 
could scarcely be seen under the broad, lapping leaves of 
the mottled tobacco. The hills were carpeted with clover. 
Beneath the tree-clumps, fat cattle chewed the cud, or 



57 

peaceful sheep reposed, grateful for the shade. In the 
midst of this plenty, half hidden in foliage, over which 
the gracef u] shafts of the Lombardy poplar towered, with its 
bounteous garden and its orchard heavy with fruit . . ., 
peered the old mansion, white, or dusky red, or mellow 
gray by the storm and shine of years". 

Harvest was spoken of as a season. It v/as a festival. . . . 
Every "hand" was eager for it. It was the test of the 
men's prowess and the women's skill; for it took a man to 
swing his cradle through the long June days and keep up 
with the bare-necked, knotted-armed leader, as he strode 
and swiuig his cradle through the heavy wheat. . . . How 
gay they appeared, . . . sweeping down the yellow grain, 
and, as they neared the starting-point, chanting wth mel- 
low voices the harvest song "Cool Water". . . . There 
never w^as any loneliness : it was movement and life without 
bustle; while somehow, in the midst of it all, the house 
seemed to sit enthroned in perpetual tranquillity, with out- 
stretched arms under its spreading oaks, sheltering its 
children like a great gray dove. 

Even at night there was stirring about; the ring of an 
axe, the infectious music of the banjos, the laughter of 
dancers, the festive noise and merriment of the cabin, the 
distant, mellowed shouts of 'coon or 'possum hunters, or 
the dirge-like chant of some serious and timid wayfarer 
pa.ssiug along the path over the hills or through the w^oods, 
and solacing his lonely walk with religious song. 

25. The Land of Cotton and Rice. 

The southeastern part of the United States produces two 
characteristic products,— rice and cotton. This is the re- 



58 

«iion worked by slave labor before the Civil War, and ;r 
was then in the height of its beauty and its prosperity. 

The grand colonial mansions, the extensive plantations 
around, and the negroes' ca'oiiis showed a life different fi'om 
the rest of the country. Wiiliani Ploward Russell de- 
scribes a visit to one of the planters' houses, "buried in 
trees" and surrounded b}^ lawns and flower-beds. The 
veranda gave a charming view; the house showed wealth in 
its paintings <nnd its fine collections of boolvs. The food 
was excellent, and the hospitality of the people unbounded. 
Speakiiig of the slaves, he says: ''At night when we re- 
tire, oil' they go to their outer darkness in the small settle- 
ment . . ., which is separated froin our house by a 
wooden palisade. Their fidelity is undoubted. The house 
breathes an air of security. The doors and windows are 
unlocked There is but one gun, a fowling-piece, on the 
premises. No planter hereabouts has any dread of his 
slaves. . . . i\ly host is a kind man aiul a good master. 
If slaves are happy anywhere, they should be so with him. 
, "These people are fed by their master. They have up- 
ward of half a poinid per diem of fat pork, and corii in 
abundance. They rear poultry and sell their chickens and 
eggs to the house. They are clothed b}^ their master. He 
keeps them ii] sickness as in health." 

All slaves, however, wore not so -fortunate as to have 
kind masters. In many cases, their lives were made most 
uidiappy by crnel treatment and by separation from their 
families. The Civil War gave all these freedom. But 
those fou.r dreadful years of war spread ruin and desolation 
over this section of our country, that required long years 
to hea,l. Nature, however, gave great gifts to this land, 
and the patient ctrorts of the people liave restored ])rosper- 
ity to it. 



59 

Cotton is one ot these gifts, and a visit to a cotton field 
will repay us. 

When the plants are about the size of currant bushes, 
we see on them green bolls, about the size of walnuts. 
These contain the unripened cotton. A little later, and 
these bolls will open, showing a great snowy mass of cot- 
ton. The plants ripen irregularly and the negro laborers 
go over the iield, gathering the white balls into baskets. 
Then it is carried by wagons to the gin-house, where the 
cotton-gin wdll pick out the seeds. Pressing machines next 
squeeze the cotton into bales, each weighing four or five hun- 
dred pounds. This is cotton as it leaves the plantation, 
ready to be made inio cloth in the factories. 

Rice grows w^ell in the extreme South, because it requires 
nmch heat and moisture. The best rice grows on ground 
that can be flooded wdth fresh w^ater. After the young 
plants have got a start in the mud, the beds are flooded 
with water, and allowed to remain under water until the lit- 
the green sprouts appear above it. Then the w^ater is drawn 
off until the plant has reached a proper size, when the 
ground is again flooded, remaining wet until the harvest, 
'i'he planter harvests it by cutting the straw and thrashing 
it to get the rice out. When the tight hull on the grain is 
removed, and the rice "polished smooth, it is ready for 
commerce. 

One of tlie most interesting cities in this section is 
Charleston. It is built on the peninsula between the Ash- 
ley and Cooper llivers. It has w4de, regular streets, bor- 
dered wdth live-oate and other fine shade-trees. Many of 
the houses are very handsome, with fine gardens in which 
magnolias, jessamines, camellias, and azaleas bloom. 

Its great harbor is one of the finest on the Atlantic coast, 
making the city the chief port of South Carolina. 



60 

Two fanioiLs forts guard this harbor, — Fort Moultrie and 
Fort Sumter. 

Fort i\Ioultrie and brave Sergeant Jasper are names 
linked together in our history. Early in the Revolution 
the British sent a force against Charleston, then defended 
by a fort of palmetto logs. The British ships pounded at 
its walls in vain, while the Americans' fire was so vigorous 
as. at one time, to sweep every man off the decks, except 
Admiral Parker. The British land attack also failed be- 
cause of the skill of the American riflemen. During this 
land flght, a ball cut down the flag-staff, making the flag 
fall outside the walls of the fort. Ileedlesss of danger 
Sergeant Jasper leaped down from the fort, "seized the 
flag, tied it to a new staff, and hoisted it again in place." 

Fort Sumter holds a greater place in history. In 1861, 
the Confederate forces compelled Major Anderson to sur- 
render after an attack of thirty-four hours; he and his 
men left the fort, carrying their flag with them. This be- 
gan a bloody war that lasted four years, and cost billions of 
money and thousands of brave lives. 

This flag was raised again at Sumter, April 14, 1865. 
''Precisely at noon, Major-General Robert Anderson took 
the same flag which four years before he had been compelled 
to lower, and, assisted by many others, raised it to the 
top of the staff from w^hich it was again unfuHed 
to the breeze." 

The war is over, and the ''stars and stripes" is still 
the flag of the whole nation. The clouds of war have 
vanished, and the sun of peace and prosperity shines again 
on a rich, happy, and powerful people. 

26. The Georgia Cracker. 

The Georgia crackers are "poor whites" living on their 
small farms in various parts of southern United States. 



61 

They are so called because their principal food is cracked 
corn. It is an odd sight in Georgia towns to see a few 
crackers gathered together in rough-looking carts, each 
drawn by a bull, selling the rude produce of their woods and 
fields. The carts look as if they would hardly hold to- 
gether, and the drivers match them— a lazy shiftless set, 
utterly indifferent as to their untidy appearance, and ap- 
parently happy in their jjoverty. Then^ homes are prob- 
ably ten or twenty miles from town, and wretched abodes 
they are. To reach them, one rides along the red clay 
road, through great forests of pine and oak, with here and 
there a holly-tree, lighting up the gloom of the forest 
with its bright red. berries. Sometimes the cracker lives 
in a little village with a few small houses, and a couple 
of stores, around whose doors at every hour of the day 
some of the village idlers can be seen. Frequently his home 
is a log house in a clearing. It is without windows, and 
the roof looks as if it would let in plenty of water on a 
rainy day; the chimney is outside the house, the lower 
part being made of stones and red clay, while the upper 
part is formed of sticks, cemented on both sides with this 
clay. 

The house contains but one room, and the fireplace with 
its pine fire gives the only light at night, for these people 
use neither lamps nor candles. 

With the spinning-wheel and the loom in the corner the 
mother of the family makes the rough cotton cloth from 
which their clothes are made. The beds, some chairs, and a 
table complete the furniture of the room. Their small fields 
of cotton clothe them, and their corn-fields feed them. A 
visitor to a meal here would be given a spoon and told 
"to dip into the pot of steaming corn-meal." Coffee, with- 
out milk or sugar, and occasionally a piece of pork are about 



62 

the only additions to the meal. The men indulge in home- 
made corn-whiskey, and the women in snuff or a pipe. 
This snuff-taking is common among women of the "poor 
whites" in the South, the practice beginning in girlhood. 
The snuff is kept in a tin box and dipped with a twig of 
black-gum, about six inches long, one end of which has been 
chewed into a ''bushy swab." AVlien this end is dipped 
into the snuff', it is thrust into the mouth, remaining there 
until the snuff is absorbed. 

These people care nothing for education and seem per- 
fectly content with their lot. They are lazy and shiftless, 
doing 110 more work than they can help. Yet they are not 
bad or vicious. Octave Thanet says: "The cracker has 
his virtues. ... He is as hospitable as an Arab, brave, 
faithful and honest, and full of generosity and kindness." 

27. F'lorida. 

Florida, the southeastern corner of the United States, 
is a land of sun.shine and flowers. It is a region of per- 
petual summer, for here stern Winter has no sway. 

Oft' the southern coast we find the Florida Keys. 

The Florida Reefs (or Keys) are a chain of little islands 
and reefs of coral, extending in a curve for about two 
hundred miles. Key West on Thompson's Island, or Bone 
Key, is the chief city of the Keys. It has a safe harbor 
with expensive fortifications. Its cigar manufactures em- 
ploy a third of the population. 

This terrible Florida reef is a great danger to mariners. 
"Inside of its coral banks is a broad channel of smooth 
water, beyond which lies a parallel chain of palm-covered 
keys, or islands, of great fertility and beauty." Pirates 
and wreckers added to the dangers ; the government, how- 



63 

ever, has made the region fairly safe by hunting down the 
pirates and by establishing a nnmber of lighthouses. 

The peninsula is low, and shows many marshes and 
swamps, chief of wiiich is the Everglades, covering two 
million acres. The Everglades lie in southern Florida. 
They consist of thousands of little islands, covered with a 
dense growth of cypress-trees, palmetto-trees, vines, and 
shrubs. The surrounding water is from one to ten feet 
deep, in part overgrown with saw^grass. The small rivers 
issuing from the Everglades all end in swamps, and ex- 
plorers are baffled by the limitless expanse of marsh-grass, 
which shelters snakes, alligators, and stinging clouds of 
mosquitoes. 

A few hundred Seminole Indians live on the islands 
in the Everglades, cultivating little pieces of land there. 
Most of these live in huts shaped like a tent, the pole 
framework being thatched with palmetto leaves. Their dress 
is very odd. "Their broAvn legs and shanks were en- 
tirely bare, except for the flaps of their shirts. . . . They 
had neckerchiefs and watch-chains, and one woi'e a soldier's 
coat with brass buttons, while a comrade had the vest t^ 
match. Two had derby hats, one a straw hat, one a cap." 
These Indians are reliable and honest, and live at peace with 
each other and with the whites in the neighboring towns. 

Cotton, timber, sugar-cane, pineapples, and oranges are 
the chief productions of Florida. 

Pineapples grow on the keys and in southern Florida. 
The plant, called a tree by the growers, is about three feet 
high and resembles the green top of the fruit on a large 
scale. It produces well, yielding about seven thousand, to 
the acre. The fierce heat of the sun, the bites of the 
swarms of mosquitoes, and the sharp, cutting edges of the 
leaves make the gathering of the pineapple a terrible task, 



64 

most of it beint]^ done by negroes from the Bahamas, used 
to it from boyhood. 

The orange orchards of Florida produce excellent fruit. 
The orange-tree is always pleasing with its ''rich, glossy 
dark-green leaves," but when laden with its golden fruit, 
it is beautiful. From five to ten years after planting, the 
tree begins to bear; it keeps on producing for a long 
period, sometimes until it is eighty or a hundred years old. 
Growers say that some trees will bear five thousand oranges 
in a year. 

The most interesting city in the State is St. Augustine. 
Settled by the Spanish in 1565, it is the oldest town in the 
United States. It lies in northeastern Florida, on a sound 
two miles from the Atlantic. 

Butterworlh, describing this city, says : 

"Out of a long region of shadowy palm crowns, sunny 
orange groves, and swamp fields of glimmering palmetto, 
the train swept into the open country by the sea, and 
crossed the St. Sebastian. 

"What a wonderful change! There is no other like it 
anywhere. America seemed to vanish at the river. An 
Oriental city of airy towers, red-tiled roofs, and acres of 
palaces half-buried in ancient trees rose before the eye." 

Its mild temperature has made it a great winter resort 
for the rich, and its palatial hotels offer every luxury to 
those fleeing from the icy blasts of the northern cities. 

The gardens, filled with palmetto-trees, lemon-trees, and 
orange-trees, give the city a rare beauty. Most of the 
buildings are built of coquina cement, a material formed 
by combining Portland cement with tiny sea-shells from 
an island across the bay. This gives a warm, soft gray 
color to the buildings, wliich blends perfectly with the red- 



65 

tiled roofs, the deep green of the trees, and the vivid blue 
of the southern sky. 

28. New Orleans. 

New Orleans, the chief city of the Gulf States, is in the 
southeastern part of Louisiana, on the Mississippi, about 
one hundred miles above its mouth. It is called the ' ' Cres- 
cent City" because the older part followed the bend of the 
river. 

To protect the city from the overflow of the water, 
a broad embankment, or levee, is maintained along the river. 
The river levee is fourteen feet high and fifteen feet wide, 
the broad top making a fine promenade. 

Another device of man serves to prevent the great river 
from blocking the harbor by the immense masses of mud 
it brings down from the uplands. By building jetties, or 
river-wails, the current was enclosed in a narrow space, 
several hundred feet wide, thus making it strong enough 
to carry away the mud to the Gulf beyond. These walls 
were formed by sinking between piles, rafts of willow 
twigs and branches, loaded with stones. The mud filled 
in the spaces between the stones and the twigs, making 
solid w^alls. 

New Orleans at one time belonged to France, and the 
older parts of the city show this fact. The quaint, old 
French and Spanish houses of this section, the narrow 
streets, and the numerous gardens with their trees and 
song-birds make it most picturesque. 

In a description of New Orleans, Harriet Prescott Spof- 
f ord says : "In the more modern part of the city are broad, 
well-shaded streets and spacious houses in the midst of 
gardens where the sward is greener than emerald ; and one 
looks through the open palings upon clusters of the deep 



66 

pink crape-myrtle, upon palm-ferns, and upon open gal- 
leries peopled by lovely ladies in lawns and laces. 

"Beautiful magnolias lift their dark towers of shining 
greenery, and here and there an old palm-tree invites the 
eye up its thirty or forty feet of scaly bark, to its tufted 
foliage where high in the blue air it drops its oJd brown 
boughs and puts forth its bright new plumes. 

"It makes a child of New England feel far away from 
home, when looking at the lovety marvel of a palm-tree; 
yet, nevertheless, if once inside those pleasant places, one 
is made to feel very much at home. One seems to be in a 
land of enchantment, when looking out at one of these 
gardens in full bloom." 

The French market is very interesting, for many of the 
market people speak French and Spanish, rather than 
English. Their vegetables are not sold by the peck or 
the quart; instead they are arranged in piles on tables, the 
prices varying according to the size. 

A New Orleans cemetery is quite different from the ordi- 
nary one. Since it is impossible to dig any distance with- 
out striking water, the graves are above ground, the coffins 
often resting in a long series of narrow vaults, one above 
the other. 

Another peculiarity of the city is the great number of 
cisterns for rain-water, nearly every house having one. 
They are built above ground, and "sometimes reach to the 
top of the third story." 

New Orleans is one of the largest cotton markets in the 
world, handling about two million bales every year. Be- 
sides cotton it exports much sugar and molasses, for Louisi- 
ana has vast plantations that raise the sweet sugar-cane. 

The lovely country pictured in "Evangeline" is a little 
above New Orleans. Lakes and bayous open from the 



67 

river all throngli Louisiana. Longfellow, in describing 
one of the bayous, after telling of the ' ' columns of cypress 
and cedar" with trailing mosses that ''waved like ban- 
ners, ' ' says : 

"Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undulations 
Made by the passing oars, and resplendent in beauty, the 

lotus 
Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boatmen. 
Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magnolia 

blossoms. 
And with the heat of noon ; and numberless sylvan islands, 
Fragrant and thickly embroidered with blossoming 

hedges of roses. 
Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to slum- 
ber." 

29. The Southern Negro after the War. 

When the Emancipation Proclamation was read to the 
slaves on the plantation where Booker T. Washington was 
born, there was great rejoicing at first. His mother, weep- 
ing for joy, kissed her three children and explained the 
meaning of the great gift. The rejoicing lasted only a 
little while, however ; it was succeeded by a feeling of great 
responsibility, for they saw they must now take care of 
themselves in the great world. "It was very much like 
suddenly turning a youth of ten or twelve years out into 
the world to provide for himself." To secure a home and 
support a family was a new and difficult problem in view 
of the great poverty of this race, and their lack of prepara- 
tion. As illustration of that poverty, Booker Washington 
says he cannot remember ever having slept in a bed until 
after the Emancipation Proclamation made him free. 
"Filthy rags laid upon the dirt floor" formed his bed; 



68 

the cabin had no glass windows, only openings that ad- 
mitted the winter's cold as well as the light. His first shoes 
had wooden soles, about an inch thick; until quite a youth, 
his single garment was a flax shirt, made largely of refuse 
flax, that tortured the skin by its roughness. Today he 
is the head of the great Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, a 
school that aims to give the same uplift to other negroes, 
and that has done wonders for the advance of the negro 
race. 

Booker Washington 's education came chiefly from Hamp- 
ton Institute in Virginia. He had a distance of five hun- 
dred miles to go to reach it, and little money to pay for 
his journey. After a number of days he managed to reach 
Richmond, Virginia, which was eighty -two miles from 
Hampton. He had no money when he arived there, and 
he knew no one in the city. He slept that night on the 
ground under a board sidewalk that was elevated some dis- 
tance. He worked his way on to Hampton, and finally 
reached there with just fifty cents in his pocket. When he 
applied for admission, his appearance was against him, but 
after some time the head-teacher told him to take a broom 
and sweep an adjoining school-room. 

"I swept the recitation-room three times. Then I got a 
dusting-cloth, and I dusted it four times. All the wood- 
work around the walls, every bench, table, and desk, I 
went over four times with my dusting-cloth." 

When he linished, he reported to the teacher; she ex- 
amined the room carefully and then said, "1 guess you 
will do to enter this institution." 

**I was one of the happiest souls on earth. The sweep- 
ing of that room was my college examination, and never 
did any youth pass an examination for entrance into Har- 
vard or Yale that gave him more genuine satisfaction. " 



69 

His good sweeping secured him a position as janitor at 
the Institute, and enabled him thus to support himself while 
securing his greatly desired education. 

At Hampton he learned not only books, but he learned 
the customs of civilized, cultured life. He learned how 
to become a leader of his people in teaching them the value, 
not only of mental training but also of industrial training. 

He foaght the false ideas that the negroes had held dur- 
ing the dreadful Reconstruction Period, from 1867 to 1878. 
Then the greatest desires of the Southern negroes were that 
they might hold government offices and that they or their 
children should learn Latin or Greek in order to be free 
from manual toil. He taught them the value of a trade 
and the need of acquiring properly by honest labor. 

He established Tuskegee Institute in 1881. It began with 
thirty students and one teacher. To-day it has forty build- 
ings of various sizes, and all except four were built by the 
students. A farm, a carpenter-shop, a brick-yard turning 
out thousands of bricks a year and hundreds of trained 
brickmakers, a wagon-shop where youths are taught to 
repair and build all sorts of vehicles,— these and other shops 
show the princple of the school. Every student while 
getting his mental training must also learn some industry. 

It is a hard, uphill process to rise from the helplessness 
and the poverty of ignorance. Education is the only lever 
that can so raise a race to a position of self-supporting in- 
dependence: but with this education the negro race will 
surely rise. 

30. iMammoth Cave. 

Mammoth Cave is the largest cavern of its kind in the 
world, extending inward for about ten miles. It lies in 
central Kentucky and contains a great number of cham- 



70 

bers, avenues, and galleries. Most of these chambers are 
excavations made in the rock by nature. 

The temperature of the cave remains about 53° the year 
round, giving the summer tourist on entrance a chilled 
feeling; yet the air is so full of oxygen that it soon gives 
him vigor and energy. 

Near the entrance is the Rotunda, an immense, gloomy 
hall, "arched with a dome a hundred feet high without a 
single pillar to support it. It rests on irregular ribs of 
dark gray rock, in massive oval wings." 

The Church is another vast hall, with a gallery resem- 
bling the choir of a cathedral, and a pulpit. "The guide 
leads up from the adjoining galleries, and places a lamp 
each side of the pulpit, on fiat rocks, which seem made for 
the purpose. Five thousand people could stand in this 
subterranean temple with ease." 

Gothic Chapel is a beautiful formation. The stalactite 
columns hanging from the roof form perfect arches in 
places. 

Satan's Council Chamber and Satan's Throne are two 
other odd forms, very strange looking when lighted by the 
guides' lamps. 

Mammoth Dome, over five hundred feet long, is the high- 
est and largest of all these rooms, the roof towering one 
hundred and twenty feet above the tourist's head. 

Besides these innumerable halls and avenues, there are 
many remarkable bodies of Avater in the cavern. 

A steep precipice is at one side of River Hall, and look- 
ing down, by the light of the torches, one sees the Dead Sea, 
a black mass of water, fully eighty feet below. 

Of all the waters in the cavern the most famous is Echo 
River. 



71 

A writer says the music of this river is beautiful. ' ' The 
guide rows us to exactly the right spot in this long and 
deep underground river. Here the rocky arches meet the 
water vertically, and without a shore ; but the waves lap 
musically into a thousand little cavities as we row along. 

"This is only the gentle prelude. For now, while utter- 
ing certain peculiarly mellow sounds, . . . the guide 
rocks the boat to and fro, so that we must hold to the gun- 
wales to keep from being thro^vn overboard. And then 
begins a concert that, if not interrupted, may last fully 
half an hour. 

"First comes a sound like the tinkling of silver bells. 
Larger, heavier bells take up the melody, as the billows 
caused by the rocking of the boat strike the cavities in the 
wall. Then it seems as if the chimes of many cathedrals 
had conspired to raise in this strange place a tempest of 
sweet sounds." 

In this dark cavern there is little life beyond the bats 
and the blind fish of the rivers. 

To lose sight of the guide and his light is a dangerous 
thing, for no one could find his way alone in that dread- 
ful darkness through these winding paths and avenues, 
stretching upwards of one hundred and fifty miles. 

31. The Great Lakes. 

The five Great Lakes lie on the boundary line between 
Canada and the United States, forming a chain that 
stretches from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario. 

The western half of this region is a wonderful country. 
Lake Superior itself with its length of three hundred and 
sixty miles is the largest body of fresh water in the coun- 
try, its area being about two-thirds that of Pennsylvania. 
On a stretch of its soathem shore for about twentv-five 



72 

miles are the famous "Pictured Rocks." These bluffs and 
cliffs from fifty to three hundred feet high were worn 
into their strange forms by the wind and the water, and 
stand as a great curiosity. 

The region around this lake has limitless supplies of 
iron and copper. In 1903, ten million tons of iron were 
produced in Michigan, dug out of the deep mines near 
Lake Superior. "Of the copper mines of Lake Superior, 
the richest is the famous Calumet and Hecla copper mine. 
The miners work a half-mile down in the earth to get the 
copper-bearing rock. Smelting-furnaces by great heat 
change the ore into the pure copper of commerce. 

The dense forests of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan 
give millions of dollars' worth of lumber every year. The 
lumbermen remain in the woods through the fall and win- 
ter, living in companies of perhaps fifty, in rough log 
cabins. Each gang has its cook, who prepares the rude 
meaLs. Pork and beans, coffee, and hot bread are the chief 
articles of diet, served up at a great table set with tin 
plates. 

By the men's long sa^\•s and axes the trees are felled and 
eat into big logs. A road of ice is often made by pouring 
water over the snow, and the horses haul the sledges, piled 
high with logs, along this road of snow or ice down to the 
frozen streams. Here the logs lie until spring melts the 
ice. A gang of loggers now goes down the stream with the 
lumber, jumping from log to log, keeping them all together 
in the current by their long poles with hooks and spikes. 
When the logs pile on top of one another, they form a jam, 
which the logger must break up by pulling and pushing 
the logs apart with his pike. The loggers sometimes build 
a raft to go with the logs, bearing ri cabin in which they 
sleep and eat. Their hard task is not done until they have 



73 

reached the sawmill, where the logs will be sawed into lum- 
])or. 

Lake Superior lies twenty feet above Lake Huron, into 
which it drains by the St. j\Iary's Kiver, a stream about 
fifty miles long. At Sault Sainte Marie there are danger- 
ous rapids in this river, or strait, as it falls about twenty 
feet -in a mile. To avoid thejn, ship-canals have been built 
on each side of the river. The first of these was the old 
Soo Ship Canal. The present Michigan Canal is over a 
mile long with a huge lock, eight hundred feet in length. 

By this lock vessels from Lake Superior are lowered the 
twenty feet to the level of Lake Huron. A lock is really 
a "box of water," enclosed by powerful gates and by high 
stone Avails. When a ship leaving Lake Superior enters 
this lock, the upper gates are closed by machinery, thus 
preventing the entrance of any more water from that 
lake. A lever then opens holes in the bottom of the 
"box," allowing the water to flow out, thus lowering the 
ship to the level below. 

Wei land Canal, connecting Lake Erie with Lake On- 
tario, enables commerce to avoid Niagara Falls. In its 
twenty-seven miles of length, this canal has twenty-six 
locks to meet the great difference in level between the two 
lakes. 

A trip through these Great Lakes is most interesting. 
It makes us realize the vastness of their commerce, while 
it shows us the beauties of the great cities on their shores. 
Among these are Duluth, at the western end of Lake Su- 
perior, with its vast grain elevators holding from thirty 
to forty million bushels of wheat; Milwaukee, the largest 
city of Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan, with its fine harbor 
and its beautiful residences ; Detroit, the beautiful metrop- 
olis of Michigan, with its fine river-front of many miles; 



74 

Cleveland, the largest city of Ohio, on Lake Erie, famed not 
only as one of the greatest iron markets of the world, but 
noted for its beauty as the ''Forest City," and for its pos- 
session of Euclid Avenue, with its superb residences, gar- 
dens, and tree-bordered lawns; and last, but by no means 
least, Buffalo, in western New York, one of the cleanest and 
healthiest cities in the entire country. 

32. Chicago. 

Among the cities of the Great Lakes, Chicago is first in 
commercial importance. In population and in the amount 
of its trade, Chicago ranks second of the cities of the entire 
Union. 

Its business structures are fine ; the largest is the Masonic 
Temple, twenty stories high, with eight hundred offices. 
The streets are regular, and many are beautiful. Most 
attractive are the wide l)oulevards, with grass and flowers 
in the middle, and palatial houses on the sides. 

The city has a number of small parks, the chief of which 
is Lincoln Park. In this park is a fine statue of Lincoln, 
erected at a cost of $50,000. This statue shows the love 
which all Illinois has for the memory of ''the martyred 
President," the greatest man the West has produced. 

"Not for thy sheaves nor savannas 
Crown we thee, proud Illinois ! 
Here in his grave is thy grandeur; 
Born of his sorrow thy joy." 

Chicago is a busy city with many different kinds of 
manufactories. It is the greatest grain market in the 
world, as well as the largest lumber market. In 1900, the 
amount of grain handled was 314,000,000 bushels! 

Perhaps its most interesting industry is the meat busi- 
ness. Qnion Stock-Yard covers about four hundred acres, 



75 

and this great space is taken up with factories, pens, and 
railroad tracks. The pens for the animals are arranged 
along streets, each section having one kind of animal. In 
the year 1900, 8,100,000 hogs, 3,500,000 sheep, and 2,700,000 
cattle were slaughtered in these yards. 

Every part of the animals is of value. The flesh is 
packed and sent to all parts of the Union ; the blood is sold 
to fertilize soil ; the bones are of value in making buttons, 
combs, etc. ; the skins of the sheep make gloves, while the 
hides of the cattle go to the tanners; even the bristles of 
the hog have a use, for they are made into brushes. 

Chicago by its industry and intelligence has risen from 
very humble beginnings to its present proad position. 
Seventy years ago its population was only four thousand; 
by the census of 1900, it was shown to be 1,698,575. 

The most striking event in its history was the great fire 
of 1871. A cow in Mrs. O'Leary's stable, kicking over a 
lamp, started the blaze. It ended when $200,000,000 of 
property had been destroyed. The people did not yield 
to despair. Instead they built up a new city, larger and 
grander than before, making it a rival of New York in its 
greatness. 

33' The Prairies and the Plains. 

The upper part of the Mississippi Valley, "between the 
Missouri, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio River" is a great 
fertile plain, the region being called the prairies. Natur- 
ally, this is ii grass country, destitute of trees ; but the de- 
velopment of the prairie States has made it a great wheat 
and corn region. 

Bryant's noble poem describes the grass-covered prairies 
of by-gone days : 



76 

"These are the gardens of the desert, these 
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, 
For which the speech of England has no name— 
The Prairies. I behold them for the first, 
And my heart swells, v/hile the dilated sight 
Takes in the encircling vastness. . . . 
Man hath no part in all this glorious work. 
The hand that built the firmament hath heaved 
And smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their slopes 
With herbage, planted them with island groves. 
And hedged them round with forests." 
The poet guides his horse over "the high rank grass that 
sweeps his sides," observes the numerous insects, gay "as 
the flowers they flutter over," the bird, the reptiles, and 
the deer. In imagination he hears : 
"The sound of that advancing multitude 
Which soon shall fill these deserts. From the ground 
Come up the laugh of children, the soft voice 
Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn 
Of Sabbath worshippers." 

That dream has come to pass, for to-day busy cities and 
prosperous farms fill all this region. 

Corn, oats, wheat, buckwheat, and timothy are produced 
in great amounts, cattle are found in the pastures, and 
beautiful orchards of fruit are seen. More than half of 
the corn raised in the United States comes from the prairie 
States. Above the corn belt lies the great wheat region. 
North Dakota and Minnesota producing the finest wheat in 
the world. Some of the farms in North Dakota are of im- 
mense size, one of twenty thousand acres being not unusual. 
Harvesting is a wonderful sight on such a farm. Long 
lines of harvesters, or reaping-machines, pulled by horses, 
cut the wheat, make a bundle of the cut grain, bind a band 



77 

around it, and throw it off as a sheaf. To dry the grain, 
the sheaves are stood up on end by men following the 
machine. 

Next, thrashing-machines, moved by steam, are used to 
separate the grain from the chaff and the straw, one such 
machine pouring out over a thousand bushels a day. On 
some farms, teams of thirty horses draw a machine that is 
a combined harvester and thrasher. 

All this wheat is carried by railroads to the great grain 
ports, where it is stored in immense elevators. In these 
elevators it is kept in great bins, until taken out by pipes 
into steamers or cars, to be sent to distant parts of the 
world. 

The greatest flour-making city in the world is in this 
section of the country. It ''s Minneapolis, in the State of 
Minnesota. Its many flour-mills can produce eighty thou- 
sand barrels a day. 

The region on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains 
is the Great Plains. These stretch from Canada to Texas 
and from the Rockies to the centre of Nebraska, Kansas, 
and Oklahoma. 

There is not much rain here, but the tough grass is well 
adapted for the raising of cattle. 

It seems strange that cattle would thrive when allowed 
to remain unsheltered all winter, exposed to cold and snow, 
but they do. It is on these plains that the cowboy leads 
his hard, toilsome life. The stock-farm of a cattle or sheep 
herder is called a ranch. Describing a cattle-ranch in east- 
ern Colorado, Helen Hunt Jackson says the word ''ranch" 
suggests beautiful surroundings with ''freedom and plenty, 
and I shall not soon forget the disappointment with which 
I first looked on a Colorado ranch. 



78 

'*I saw a small, impainted house, a story and a half 
high ; a few outbuildings built of logs in the roughest man- 
ner; no fences, not a tree in sight, not a bush; chips and 
other litter all around ; tin cans lying about in abundance ; 
a most desolate-looking spot, with discomfort and depriva- 
tion staring one in the face at every point." 

The food is bad because the men must do their own cook- 
ing, and they have not the time nor the patience to do this 
right. The comforts of a home they know nothing of. 

The cowboy's work in winter is to guard the great herds, 
though in the main the cattle look after themselves. If 
possible, he should see that they find good grass regions, 
and that they do not perish from storms. In spring, all 
the herders of a region unite to gather in the cattle, for 
the herds of various owners are all mingled together after 
their winter wanderings, some having strayed thirty miles 
from home. After they are all collected, skilled cowboys 
ride into the herd of fierce, frightened beasts and bring 
out the cattle belonging to the various owners. They know 
them by their brands, for every owner brands his cattle 
with his private mark by a hot iron, before the winter 
roaming. 

A good cowboy is skilled -with his lasso, or rope. This 
rope, with a noose at the end, is kept gathered in a coil un- 
til he wishes to throw it. Then he swings it around his 
head several times, and the rope flies out twenty or thirty 
feet, capturing the strong beasts, and holding them fast in 
the n'oose. 

Sometimes the cowboy is a rough, reckless being, but 
not always. It is a hard lonely life, and none but strong, 
brave men can endure this life on the Great Plains. 



79 

34. A "Round=up" in Colorado. 

But the light of the sun has hardly crept down the hill 
to touch the tree-tops, still ringing with the morning song, 
before the hurried standing breakfast at the camp is over, 
and each man has been appointed to his work by the captain 
of the ' ' round-up. "... Then follows a general saddling 
of horses, and, while the shadows still lie long across the 
plain, knots of horsemen, three or four abreast, strike out 
across the prairie on lines radiating in all directions from 
the camp. They will ride out on their courses for about five 
miles,- . . . and then, turning back, will drive in towards 
the centre, or, as they say, will "circle in" or "round- 
up" all the cattle found in that district. It is this opera- 
tion carried on day after day over many thousand square 
miles of country which gives the name "round-up" to the 
"annual gathering of the cattle on the Plains. . . . 

In the "general round-up" of the early summer, the 
branding of young stock is the chief business ; but in this 
gathering the object is to separate certain cattle to be 
driven away to new grazing-grounds in the northern Terri- 
tories, o . . 

The background of mountains which in the morning had 
been so shadeless was now almost wholly in shadow. . . . 
Here and there the snowy head of a mountain looks out 
cold and wan through a transparent veil of showers. Every 
mom.ent at some point along the rank of mountains a thun- 
derbolt leaps across from cloud to peak with a quick shiver, 
A portentous darkness settles over the Great Divide. The 
pine-clad slopes are as black as night; the snowy summits, 
leaden. 

In contrast with the dark majesty of the background is 
the intense animation of the scene close at hand. Back and 



80 

forth and round and round patrol the horsemen appointed 
to hold the cattle within certain boundaries. Men repre- 
sentins: the owners of brands ride into the crowd of cattle, 
and, moving- slowly about, observe the brand of every ani- 
mal as they pass. . . . Catching sight of the brands 
for which they are seeking, each man follows close at the 
heels of the cow he has selected, and, when she is near the 
edge of the herd, with a quick jump of his horse he tries to 
drive her beyond the boundaries. . . . The whole herd 
is in commotion, with a general wheeling movement like a 
slow maelstrom. . . . The din of a thousand bellowing 
voices grows more thunderous as the herd grows more un- 
easy. To watch this moving sea of animal life is exciting 
in the highest degree. The horses, trained by long experi- 
ence in the work, dash into it with the fire of a war-horse 
going to battle. . . . The showy, barbaric costumes of 
the cowboys, the exquisite feats of horsemanship, the excite- 
ment of the horses warming to their work, the occasional 
dexterous use of the lasso in subduing some animal at bay,— 
all the rush and tumult, the roar and shouting, the ^ace of 
muscular men and animals in ^wift motion, make up a spec- 
tacle so stirring and picturesque that all other exhibtions 
of equestrian skill seem tame in comparison. 

As the cattle one by one are ' ' cut out, ' ' they are taken in 
charge by outside riders and driven away to swell the herd 
of those already gathered, which is grazing less than a mile 
away. After two hours of work, while the commotion seems 
still as violent as ever, the captain suddenly shouts the 
order, *'Turn 'em loose!" The cry passes along, the guards 
draw to one side, the liberated cattle move quickly away, 
first in a body, then in a long scattering line, and the 
stillness of the desert succeeds the uproar. In the mean- 
time, the camp has been broken up and the train of wagons 



81 

has moved up the river eight or ten miles to fix a centre for 
the next day's work. There is little difference between 
one day and another. The same operation of "circling" 
in and '•cutting out" will be repeated until every acre 
of ground in the allotted district has been traversed. 

Abridged from Alfred Terry Bacon. 

35. Colorado. 

''The Centennial State" can boast the grandest scenery 
in the country. ''In Colorado roads, any minute's bend 
to right or left may give you a delicious surprise, a new 
peak, a far vista, a changed world." Its numerous peaks 
capped with snow, its brilliantly colored rocks with here 
and there forests of oaks and pines forming a "solid waF 
of green" give it a charm unmatched. 

We may divide the State into two divisions,— the plains 
in the east and the Rocky Mountains in the west, crossing in 
several ranges from north to south. These plains are well 
adapted to cattle-grazing, which is a most important indus- 
try in Colorado. 

Farming is carried on to a considerable extent, aided by 
irrigation. Thousands of miles of irrigating canals and 
ditches bring the water that alone makes crops possible in 
many regions. 

Veins of gold and silver are found all through the Rocky 
Mountains. Colorado possesses rich treasures of both 
these metals, mining being the State's chief industry. A 
visit to a gold mine will give an idea of how the earth is 
made to give up this wealth. The buildings around this 
mountain mine resemble a great factory. The hole going 
down into the earth is called the shaft, and it is about eight 
feet square. Elevators go up and down it, moved by the 
great steam-engine at the top of the shaft. Tunnels into 



82 

tlio earth lead off from the shaft at different levels, one 
below the other. This mine has five such tunnels about 
sixty feet apart, the lowest being about three hundred feet 
from the top of the mine. Leaving the rough elevator, 
at the lowest tunnel, we walk along it in the intense dark- 
ness, lighted only by the miners' small candles or tiny 
lamps. Here we see the miners digging the ore. They 
bore a hole in the rock, place a stick of dynamite in it, and 
connect it with a fuse. When this is lighted, the dynamite 
explodes and tears out great masses of rock. These the 
miners load into cars, which the elevator hauls to the sur- 
face. This rock contains the gold, and various methods 
are used to separate it. A common mode is the cyanide 
process. The rock is ground repeatedly by machinery un- 
til it becomes powder. This dust is placed in great steel 
tanks and mixed with water containing cyanide of potas- 
sium. This water takes up the gold from the mud and is 
run off into boxes containing zinc shavings. These in turn 
take the gold out of the water. Then the zinc and the gold 
are separated by being melted in a furnace, from which 
the pure gold flows out and is hardened in molds. 

Silver is dug in mines and the ore crushed to powder as 
in the mining of gold. Quicksilver, or mercury, is mixed 
with this silver-bearing powder, and it takes up all the sil- 
ver. The mixture of silver and quicksilver is then put 
into a furnace. The great heat drives off the quicksilver 
as a vapor, leaving the silver. 

Leadville, founded in 1859 as "California Gulch,*' be- 
came in 1877 on the discovery of vast deposits of silver, 
one of the greatest mining towns in the world. 

The best gold region in the State is that of Cripple Creek, 
near Pike's Peak. In 1900, the Cripple Creek region pro- 
duced gold to the value of $20,000,000. 



83 

» 

Two of the most famous mountain peaks in the State 

are the Mountain of the Holy Cross and Pike's Peak, each 
about fourteen thousand feet high. 

The rugged, barren Mountain of the Holy Cross is in 
northwestern Colorado. Near the top, it bears a great 
cross which gives its name to the peak. This cross is 
formed by snow lying in two deep ravines, which cross each 
other at right angles. In summer, when the snow else- 
where has melted, one sees this beautiful white cross, boldly 
outlined against the rocks around. 

In the winter of 1803, Major Pike with a party of ex- 
plorers, tried to reach the top of the mountain that now 
bears his name, but he was obliged to give up the attempt, 
remarking sadly that nothing but a bird could reach that 
snowy height. Time, however, has solved the problem of 
its ascent, for a cog-railroad from Manitou and a fine car- 
riage road now reach the top. 

The view from the signal station on Pike's Peak is grand. 
'^In the west the great main range of the Rockies, two hun- 
dred miles away, loomed up with snowy heads ; in the north 
lay Denver, seventy-five miles distant, while away beyond 
was a white speck which we knew to be Cheyenne, in Wyo- 
ming. ■ . . . Away beyond stretched the great Colorado 
plains, with the Platte Eiver winding through them like a 
silver thread." 

Manitou and Colorado Springs are two charming towns 
at the base of Pike's Peak; near them is the famous Garden 
of the Gods. Helen Hunt Jackson says a better name for 
this mass of rocks would be the "Portress of the Gods." 
Describing its gateway she says : ' ' Fancy two red sand- 
stone rocl^ three hundred feet high, of irregular outline 
and surface, rising abruptly and perpendicularly like a 
wall, with a narrow passage-way between them. The rock 



84 

on your right, as yon enter from the east, is of the deepest 
brick-red; the one on the left is paler, more of a flesh 
color. At their base is a thick growth of low oak bushes." 
. . . Thousands of swallows nest in the holes and crev- 
ices of these columns, "and at sunset it is a beautiful 
sight to see them circling high in the air, perching for a 
moment on the glittering red spires and pinnacles at the 
top of the wall, and then swooping downward and disap- 
pearing suddenly where no aperture is to be seen, as if 
with their little bills they had cloven way for themselves 
into the solid rock." 

Entering the gateway you find among the low cedars and 
pines "a wild confusion of red rocks." Every shape and 
size of rock is here, all of a bright red hue, amazing and 
awing the visitor by the strangeness of their form or by 
the vastness of their size. 

The fertile valleys, or parl^, enclosed by mountain- 
chains, add to the wondroiLs beauty of the State. Every 
visitor to Colorado returns charmed with its magnificent 
scenery, whose beauty is heightened by the pure air and 
the clear skies. 

36. The Wild West. 

Life in the West today is vastly different from what it 
was fifty years ago. That formative period in the develop- 
ment of the West was one of struggle and danger. We can 
realize these conditions best by studying them in connection 
with the career of one who lived through them. 

In 1857, William F. Cody, better known as "Buffalo 
Bill," was a boy about twelve years of age, living in newly 
settled Kansas. His father had just died, and to help his 
mother the boy engaged as "extra" with a firm of over- 
land freighters, whose headquarters were at Leavenworth. 



85 

The freiglit was carried in great wagons, resembling the 
prairie-schooners. Usually about thirty-five of these can- 
vas-covered wagons started off on the long journey, each 
wagon being drawn by several yoke of oxen in charge of 
a driver, called a bullwhacker. Cody's duty was to ride 
from one wagon to another, giving the orders of the chief 
wagon-master, or "wagon-boss." "When the first day's 
work was done, and he had staked out aiid cared for his 
horse, he watched with fascinated eye^ the strange and 
striking picture lined against the black hills and the 
sweeping stretch of darkening prairie. Everything was ani- 
mation : the buUwhackers unhitching and disposing of their 
teams; the herders staking out the cattle; and,— not the 
least interesting— the mess cooks preparing the evening meal 
at the crackling camp-fires, w4th the huge, canvas-covered 
wagons encircling them like ghostly sentinels; the ponies 
and oxen blinking stupidly as the flames stampeded the 
shadows in which they were enveloped; and more weird 
than all the buckskin-clad buUwhackers, squatted around 
the fire, their beards glowing red in its light, their faces 
drawn in strange black and yellow lines, while the spiked 
grasses shot tall and sword-like over them. . . . 

"But Will discovered that life on the plains is not all a 
supper under the stars when the sparks fly upward; it 
has its hardships and privations. There were days, as the 
wagons dragged their slow lengths along, when the clouds 
obscured the sky and the wind whistled dismally; days 
when torrents fell and swelled the streams that must be 
crossed, and when the mud lay ankle-deep ; days when 
the cattle stampeded and the round-up meant long, extra 
hours of heavy work; and, hardest but most needed work 
of all, the eternal vigil 'gainst an Indian attack." 



m 

Another daring occupation of the boy was that of Pony 
Express rider. This Pony Express was started to convey 
mail and valuable packages across the country from the 
IMissouri River to Sacramento, in California. The Pony 
Express was very useful before the telegraph and the rail- 
road came to that region. The stretch of two thousand 
miles was covered by the Pojiy Express riders in nine days 
usually, though on the occasion of delivering President Lin- 
coln's inaugural, in March, 1861, this time was reduced to 
seven days and seventeen hours. 

The letters carried were written on fine, light paper 
to reduce the weight, for the charge was five dollars for 
half an ounce. They were carried in locked leather bags, 
strapped to the rider's side. The Pony Express began 
its first trip on April 3, 1860, one rider starting west from 
St. Joseph, while another started east from Sacramento. 
All along the road, other riders were ready, waiting to 
carry the mail-bag for their distance, when they arrived. 

Cody's run was only forty-five miles, taken in three 
relays, and covered in three hours, a fresh horse being 
taken at each of the three relay stations. It was a life 
of danger. One day, at a bend in a narrow pass, he sud- 
denly met a highwayman armed with a revolver, who or- 
dered the boy to deliver up the money packages in the 
saddle-bags. The boy obeyed the command to throw up 
his hands; but as the robber reached over to get the 
plunder, Cody touched the pony with his foot, causing 
him to upset the robber and to knock him, unconscious, 
to the ground. It was easy work then to disarm the rob- 
ber, pinion him, and take him away a prisoner. It was 
thus that these riders, by coolness, bravery, and daring, 
performed their hard task. 



87 

The Pony Express was discontinued in 1861, when a 
telegraph line was put up connecting the West with the 
East. 

it was a stirring age, but it is past. There are no 
longer any lurking savage Indians for the settlers to guard 
against; the white-covered jn-airie-sehooners with their 
teams of perhaps eight oxen no longer bear emigrant fami- 
lies across the prairies to their new homes; the peaceful 
railroad of today covers the trails of those early days, 
which were not roads nor even paths, sometimes. The 
deeds of these pioneers of civilization are almost forgotten 
in the busy rush of modern life. Yet without their daring 
skill and untiring perseverance, that region would still be 
a wilderness, given over to the wild buffalo and the roam- 
ing Indian. 

37. The Yellowstone National Park. 

The Yellowstone National Park lies chiefly in the north- 
western part of Wyoming, the area of the park proper be- 
ing over three thousand square miles. 

Magnificent forests cover the greater part of the park, 
though all around it are treeless deserts. Lying in the 
heart of the Roclry Mountains, it is surrounded on three 
sides by lofty mountains, as though Nature would guard 
this treasure spot of beauty. 

A roaring river runs beside the entrance road, and great 
gray cliffs border it. One's first stop in the Park is at the 
fine Mammoth Springs Hotel, and from its veranda one 
can see Fort Yellowstone, the station for two companies of 
United States Cavalry. These soldiers keep order in the 
Park, protect its deer, elk, and other wild animals, and 
preserve the forests from destruction by fire. These for- 



88 

ests are of great value to the surrounding region, as they 
prevent any dangerous spring Hoods. 

A short distance from this hotel stands the Liberty Cap, 
a mass of stone fifty-two feet high, resembling somewhat a 
liberty cap of the French Revolution. Near the Liberty 
Cap are the famous Mammoth Hot Springs. These springs 
of hot water through the centuries have deposited layers of 
mineral matter built up into great terraces covering two 
hundred acres. ' ' Where water ripples over these gigantic 
steps, towering one above another toward the sky, they 
look like beautiful cascades of color." Here one sees 
orange, purple, yellow, and red, but where the water does 
not flow, the mass is white and ash-like in color. 

To travel through the Park, tourists use coaches drawn 
by four or six hoi-ses. A company maintains these coaches, 
and the traveller can take his own time for the journey, 
the wonders well repaying his stay. 

The Obsidian Cliffs from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred and fifty feet high are really made of jet-black 
glass from a volcano. By heating and breaking the glass, 
a road was formed through it. Near this is Norris Basin, 
one of the three great geyser regions. Its geysers are less 
famous than those of the other basins, though the Black 
Growler with its steady mass of steam rushing up the year 
through is quite remarkable. It takes its name from the 
black rock around it. 

In the Upper Geyser Basin we find among others the 
Beehive Geyser, the Castle Geyser, the Grand Geyser, and 
Old Faithful. 

"Old Faithful never fails. Year in, year out, winter 
and summer, day and night, in cold and heat, in sunshine 
and in storm. Old Faithful every seventy minutes sends 
up its silvery cascade." How fascinating is that great 



column of boiling water, coming from the unknown depths 
of the earth below ! What mysterious volcanic force hurls 
it high into the air at such regular intervals? This is one 
of Nature's many secrets. 

Near the Tapper Geyser Basin is part of the elevation 
known as the Continental Divide, which gives a wonderful 
view of country, bordered by the giant Rockies. On this 
elevation is a tiny lake, and when it overflows, part of its 
water flows down to the Atlantic and part to the Pacific. 

Descending the road we reach Yellowstone Lake, a mag- 
nificent sheet of water eighteen miles long. Fish are found 
in abundance in its waters. 

On the west side of the lake is a hot spring which has 
built its mineral cone containing a boiling pool, separated 
from the waters of the lake. It is called the "Fish 
Spring," because "one can catch trout from the lake, and, 
swinging them into the boiling caldron, he can cook them 
upon the hook." 

From the northern end of the lake flows the Yellowstone 
River, and after a distance of several miles it shoots over 
a precipice one hundred and ten feet high. This is the 
Upper Fall of the Yellowstone. The river flows along 
quietly for a half-mile; then it falls as the Lower Fall 
over a precipice three hundred and ten feet in height, 
"plunging into the abyss known as the Grand Canon of 
the Yellowstone." This is a gorge about a half-mile wide 
and some twenty miles long, enclosed between steep rocks 
from six hundred to fifteen hundred feet in height. 

Dr. A. C. Peale says: "When we approach the brink 
and look over into the abyss, we begin to realize the little- 
ness of man in the presence of Nature's grand masterpieces. 
Down, dow^n goes the whirling mass, battling and writhing 
as the water dashes against the rocks with a noise like the 



90 

discharge of artillery. . . . The immense mass of wa- 
ter seems to dissolve icself into spray, and then recovering, 
it flows down the gorge an emerald-green stream, dashed 
with patches of white, beating with furious waves the rocky 
walls that imprison it. Taken in connection with the 
varied tints of the canon itself— red, yellow, orange, white 
—the dark green pines fringing the top, and the bright 
green of the spray-nourished moss on the sides of the fall, 
we have a picture of almost unequalled magnificence and 
grandeur. ' ' 

The Parle and the Canon form indeed America's wonder- 
land. 

3H. The Land of the Puebios. 

Arizona and New i\Iexico are a region of our country 
offering many strange sights to the traveller. 

These southwestern lands are vast table-lands, crossed 
!)y mountain-ridges, and here from very ancient days were 
settled semicivilized Indians, called Pueblo Indians, from 
the Spanish word "pueblo," meaning a village. Their 
dwellings like those of some of the present tribes in this 
region were tenement-houses, from two to Rve stories hign, 
frequently built around three sides of a court. They were 
made of stone or of sun-dried brick (adobe), and could 
accommodate a whole tribe, consisting of hundreds or even 
thousands of Indians. 

"The ground floor has no doors or windows, and rude 
ladders lead to the roof which is pierced with trap-doors, 
giving access to the interior by means of another set of 
ladders." These outside ladders could be swung up at 
night, thus preventing any one from entering. 

With their robes or mantles made of fur, feathers, or 
embroidered cotton, their gai]}^ embroidered coats, and their 



91 

buckskin leggings, the men looked very picturesque. The 
warriors wore helmets of hide, and an armor of padded cot- 
ton or skin, carrying a shield of basketwork or of padded 
cotton. Their weapons were chiefly lances, war-clubs, and 
the bow and arrow. 

The households had several rooms in the great dwelling, 
and these the women took care of. They also prepared the 
food and made the baskets and pottery. The men hunted 
for game, tilled the fields, and did the weaving. We note 
the remains of many ancient trenches for bringing water 
to the dry fields, showing that irrigation is not a new idea. 

The Zuni Indians in New i\Iexico and the Moqui Indians 
in Arizona are the chief Pueblo tribes of to-day. 

The Zufiis are extremely polite and very intelligent. 
They are a peaceful race, but a very brave one. The Zunis ' 
seven ancient villages were known to the Spanish ex- 
plorers as the Seven Cities of Cibola. On the site of one 
of these stands today the communal pueblo of the Zufiis. 
Their numbei-s have greatly diminished, for in 1900 the 
population of the Zufii Indian Reservation was only fif- 
teen hundred and twenty-five. They live after the manner 
of their forefathers, in a great stone or adobe dwelling of 
several stories, going up and down their ladders from roof 
to roof with great ease. They are still successful farmers 
and skilled makers of baskets, pottery, and blankets. 

Every August, the JVIoqui Indians of Arizona have a 
horrible Snake Dance on the Painted Desert. Day after 
day the weird ceremonies go on, probably not understood 
even by the Indians. Thej^ end on the ninth day with the 
dance itself. 

After some marching around the plaza, the Snake priests 
with gaily painted bodies dance, raising their right knee 
almost to the chest, and then stamping vigorously. At a 



92 

signal they form in threes, one of each group taking out a 
snake from the enclosure and carrying it between his teeth, 
while one of his companions protects him from the snake's 
fangs by his whip of eagle feathers. AVhile others sing a 
loud chant, they march around the plaza to the base of the 
rock, and the snake is tlien dropped to be gathered up by 
the third man, the others returning for another snake. 
^Yhen all the snakes have been taken out, the high priest 
draws a circle on the ground with sacred meal, and into 
this the men fling their snakes. Finally the priests rush 
into this mass of serpents, and after each has seized a hand- 
ful of the snakes, they rush at full speed down the steep 
path to the plains below, at last setting the snakes free, in 
order that they may "carry to the gods their prayers for 
rain." Most of the snakes are rattlesnakes, but none of 
these Indians ever die of the deadly bite, because they know 
a remedy for this poison. A grand feast of Indian dainties 
is the concluding part of this odd ceremony. 

Let us turn from these Indians and examine the wonders 
of nature in this strange land. 

The mesas of New Mexico and Arizona are broad, high 
table-lands, bounded on at least one bide by a steep cliff. 
At a distance they often resemble a great fort. The most 
famous of these is the Enchanted Mesa in the west central 
part of New Mexico. This plateau is over four hiuidred 
feet high, and it was once inhabited by Indians. The 
summit is almost level, consisting of hard rock, much 
Aveathered, and bearing a few low cedar-trees. 

The Petrified Forest in eastern Arizona is in several di- 
visions, separated by a mile or two. It covers over twD 
thousand acres. It is a quarry of stone trees, for what 
once was a tree bv the action of water and minerals has 



93 

become agate, chalcedony, and onyx, of beautiful colors. 
Some of the fallen trunks are a hundred feet long. 

In northern Arizona we find one of the greatest wonders 
of the globe— the Grand Canon of the Arizona. Stoddard 
calls it an "awful gulf" into which "cities could be tossed 
like pebbles." It is about two hundred and fifty miles 
long, and from five to twelve miles wide. In places the 
depth is over a mile. 

The rock walls are carved into strange shapes, colored 
yellow, red, or dull purple. The long line of yellow at th(i 
bottom is the Colorado River. Travellers go down the in- 
cline on muleback to see the Caiion, but it is a hard and 
dangerous ride. The river is very difficult to navigate. 
Major J. W. Powell, in 1869, was the first to succeed in 
making the passage. With four boats and nine men he 
began his daring ride through the Cafion, starting his river 
journey in Utah. He completed the task with the loss of 
two boats and three men. These men, fearing the Canon, 
tried to escape across the desert but were massacred by 
Indians. 

Powell's description of the Grand Caiion is very fine: 
"The walls now are more than a mile in height. . . . 
A thousand feet of this is up through granite crags; then 
steep slopes and perpendicular cliffs rise, one above an- 
other, to the summit. The gorge is black and narrow be- 
low, red and gray and flaring above. . . . Down in 
these grand, gloomy depths we glide, ever listening, for the 
mad waters keep up their roar; ever watching, ever peer- 
ing ahead, for the narrow cafion is winding, and the river 
is closed in, so that we can see but a few hundred yards, 
and what there may be below w^e know not. . . . 

"Clouds are playing in the canon to-day. Sometimes 
they roll down in great masses, filling the gorge with 



94 

gloom ; sometimes they hang above, from wall to wall, and 
cover the caiion with a root' of impending storm.- . . . 
Then a gust of wind sweeps down a side gulch, and, making 
a rift in the clouds, reveals the blue heavens, and a stream 
of sunlight pours in." . . , 

Hamlin Garland, writing of the Grand Canon, beauti- 
fully says: "The clouds and the sunset, the moonrise and 
the storm, will transform it into a splendor no mountain 
range can surpass. Peaks will shift and glow, walls darken, 
crags take fire, and gray-green mesas, dimly seen, take on 
the gleam of opalescent lakes of mountain water. The 
traveler who goes out to the edge and peers into the great 
abj^ss sees but one phase out of hundreds. If he is for- 
tunate, it may be one of its most beautiful combinations 
of color and shadow. But to know it, to feel its majesty, 
one should camp in the bottom and watch the sunset and 
the moonrise, while the river marches from its lair like an 
angry lion." 

39. The Cliff=Dweners. 

Long before the Spanish conquest of this region certain 
Pueblo tribes had tied to the caiion walls for protection 
from more powerful tribes of invaders. These were the 
cliff-dwellers, and the ruined remains of their ancient dwel- 
lings are found through the whole Southwest. 

In Utah, Arizona, New ]\Iexico, and Colorado we find 
the work of this strange people. "On the sides of the 
savage cliffs that wall in or overarch the canons are scat- 
tered in every crevice and wrinkle these strange and 
picturesque ruins which give us the name 'cliff-dwellers' 
to distinguish this long-forgotten people." 

The canon of the Little Rio Mancos in southwestern 
Colorado shows us a great number of these remains. 



95 

Along' the stream they planted their crops, while on the 
high cliffs they built their houses, safe from any invader. 
The whole length of this canon ' ' is but one series of houses 
and temples that were forsaken centuries ago. ' ' 

Some of these houses were one-roomed ; others were large, 
two-storied buildings, each floor being divided into sev- 
eral roouLS, with a tall, outside cistern built against the 
side. The walls were built of squared stones, laid in mor- 
tar. The Indians generally reached their lofty homes by 
ladders. Some were built on shelves of rock seven and eight 
hundred feet above the stream; others were perched in 
crevices of the canon that the explorer of today cannot 
possibly climb to. How great must have been the skill 
and the patience of these savage builders, working only 
with tools of stone ! ' ' Imagine the infinite toilsome 
patience of a people who in such a way could rear the 
ancient Pueblo Bonito of New Mexico, five hundred and 
forty feet long, three hundred and fourteen feet wide, and 
four stories high!" 

Bacon says: "Most striking and picturesque of all the 
ruins are the round watch-towers. On commanding points 
in the valley, and on the highest pinnacles of the cliffs 
overlooking the surface of the mesa, they occur with a 
frequency which is almost pathetic as an indication of the 
life of eternal vigilance which was led by that old race 
through the years, perhaps centuries, of exterminating 
warfare which the savage red men from the North waged 
up)on them." 

We do not know the number of these Indians, but we 
do loiow they were once a powerful nation. We know they 
were a peaceful people, cultivating the lands along the 
river, raising crops of corn and beans and even irrigating 
regions where water was lacking. They did not know how 



to work metals, for the implements found in the ruins 
are of stone; but fragments of decorated pottery show 
considerable skill in this art. Their religion was probably 
a worship of the sun. 

Just when they perished we do not know, but their silent 
ruins are all that remains of this great people. Their arts 
of peace could not withstand the repeated invasions of 
savage foes, and even their rock-shelters failed to save 
them. 

40. The Great Basin. 

The Great Basin, lying between the Wasatch Mountains 
on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west, includes 
western Utah, almost all of Nevada, and a part of south- 
eastern California. 

This immense area receives little rain and has little fresh 
water. Its rivers sink into the sands of the desert or flow 
into a lake of salt water. 

One of the chief rivers of the region is the Humboldt 
River, which empties into Humboldt Lake in west central 
Nevada. This lake is only a marsh ordinarily, and the 
river is just as strange. 

Horace Greeley says: ''I wish to record my opinion that 
the Humboldt, all things considered, is the meanest river 
of its length on earth. Rising in the Humboldt Mountains, 
hardly one hundred and fifty miles west of Salt Lake, it is 
at first a pure stream . . ., but it is soon corrupted by 
its alkaline surroundings, and its water, for at least the 
lower half of its course, is about the most detestable I ever 
tasted. I mainly chose to suffer thirst rather than drink 
it. Though three hundred and fifty miles in length, it is 
never more than a decent mill-stream; I presume it is the 
only river of equal length that never had even a canoe 



97 

launched upon its bosom. ... I believe no tree of any 
size grows on this forlorn river from its forks to its mouth ; 
I am sure I saw none while traversing the lower half of its 
course. . . . 

' ' Here Famine sits enthroned, and waves his scepter over 
a dominion expressly made for him. . . . The sage-brush 
and grease-wood, which cover the high, parched plain on 
either side of the river 's bottom, seem thinly set, with broad 
spaces of naked, shining, glaring, blinding day between 
them.'* 

Mr. M. V. Moore says that the waters of this river simply 
lose themselves in the Sink of the Humboldt, "one of the 
dreariest and most forlorn stretches of waste land human 
eye ever beheld, in the heart of a great, broad plain shim- 
mering with sickening, whitish alkali, while the far-off 
mountains to the southward appear like a vein of silver, 
with their snow-capped faces looking down on the desola- 
tion below." 

Nevada is sometimes called the "Sage-Brush State," yet 
it is not all a desert. Much fertile land is found, and irriga- 
tion has changed a great deal of the desert into fertile re- 
gions, capable of raising crops and supporting cattle and 
sheep. 

Irrigation is often done by a company that sells the water 
to the farmers. The company builds dams to store the 
water in reservoirs on the mountains ; then they dig a net- 
work of canals to carry it to the thirsty land. 

Even the alkali fiats in some cases have been made pro- 
ductive by irrigation, though others remain true deserts, 
white, flat, and lifeless. Some of these flats are forty miles 
long, and travel over them is torture by reason of the blind- 
ing, stinging dust the wind raises there. From these alkali 
flats, salt and borax are obtained. 



98 

The richest treasure of Nevada, however, is her mines, 
gold and silver being produced in great quantities. Corn- 
stock Lode is a vein, bearing gold and silver, located in 
western Nevada, twelve miles from Carson City. At one 
time it was counted the richest mine in the world. 

The Great Basin has few large cities. Its largest is the 
famous Salt Lake City, lying in northeastern Utah, about 
twelve miles from Great Salt Lake. This vast salty lake, 
eighty miles long, is one of the curiosities that visitors to 
the city are interested in. No fish can live in its salt wa- 
ters. Another odd thing about the lake is that even where 
it is fifty feet deep, the swimmer cannot sink, but floats with 
head and shoulders above the water. 

The city shows a wonderful triumph over nature. Brig- 
ham Young with his Mormons crossed the country in their 
wagons from Illinois, and built this city in the desert in 
1847. By turning streains of water over the land they 
irrigated it and made it into a rich farming land. The city 
has fine, straight streets, bordered by streams of water 
brought from the mountains. The many gardens around 
the houses make it very attractive. 

Temple Block is the centre of interest to visitors. It 
covers ten acres, and contains as its two chief buildings the 
Temple and the Tabernacle. 

The Temple is built of gray granite. It took forty yeare 
to complete, the cost being over four million dollars. It 
is used for special religious ceremonies, and outsiders can- 
not enter it. 

The Tabernacle is used for ordinary Sunday services, and 
is open to all. This immense building, seating eight thou- 
sand people, is very odd in appearance, looking like "the 
half of an eggshell set upon pillars. ' ' 



99 

The founder of this city intended it as a refuge for Mor- 
mons, a sect that believed it was right for a man to have 
several wives. Their leader and ruler for many years, 
Brigham Young, at his death had seventeen wives. 

To-day the Mormons do not practice this belief, as the 
laws of the United States forbid it. The energy and per- 
severance of this people made the region what it is; with- 
out their skill and care it would probably still be a desert. 

41. Caiifornia. 

The Pacific Ocean is the western boundary of our coun- 
try, and here, along its waters, lies one of its richest and 
fairest regions. 

It is a land rich in mountain and valley. The lofty 
Sierra Nevada Mountains, seventy miles in breadth, trace 
their graceful line along the east, giving scenery of a rare 
beauty. In the west, nearly parallel to the Pacific, lies the 
Coast Range. 

The Great Valley of central California, drained by the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers is noted for its vast 
stretch of beautiful, fertile land, as it is five hundred miles 
long. 

In contrast to this is the southeastern portion of the State. 
Here we find the Colorado Desert, the Mohave Desert, and 
the famous Death Valley. This last valley takes its name 
from the fact that many persons perished of thirst in 
crossing it during the early gold-mining days of '49. It is 
part of the Great Basin, and lies below sea-level. It has a 
few springs, and with a guide it can be crossed. To cross 
it without one would mean certain death for the traveler. 

It was formerly believed that there was a volcano in the 
valley and that the poisonous gases from it would kill even 
birds flying by. This idea is incorrect. The reported vol- 



100 

cano is only a hot spring, and there are no poisonous gases, 
the atmosphere being remarkably pure. 

The heat of the place is intense. For weeks at a time 
in sununer the thermometer registers between 110° and 
115°. Sand-storms add to the terrors of the valley. When 
they rage, dense clouds of dust with their dreadful dark- 
ness cut and lash everything in their path, piling up drifts 
sometimes twenty feet high. The only vegetable life of 
these deserts is dwarfed sage-brush and hideous cacti. 

In southwestern California, man's labor has made a 
desert into a fertile land. The climate was perfect in its 
mildness, but without rain nothing would grow. Irriga- 
tion gave the water to the desert and made it live. 

Los Angeles is the greatest city of this region, having a 
population of over one himdred thousand. Oranges, 
lemons, grapes, and figs grow in abundance, and these with 
wine and wool are the chief exports. The climate is very 
mild, and the city is noted for the beauty of its gardens 
and walks, adorned with such tropical plants as the pal- 
metto, the india-rubber, the eucalyptus, the pepper- 
tree, the lemon-tree and the orange-tree. The charming 
Griffith Park here covers three thousand acres. 

A few miles from it is lovely Pasadena, lying in the warm 
sunshine at the base of snow-capped mountains. Even in 
midwinter, oranges and roses can be gathered in the gardens 
here. One of its streets is lined for a mile with palms, fif- 
teen feet high. 

Scattered throughout southern California are the lovely 
ruins of "missions". In 1769 the Franciscan monks began 
their first mission in California, at San Diego. This beauti- 
ful town is situated on the Pacific, fifteen miles from the 
Mexican frontier, in a delightful region, where the orange, 
the fig, and the olive flourish. Other missions followed, un- 



101 

til in 1823, there were twonty-one missions between San 
Diego and San Francisco. Each mission in the centre of its 
lands had a church, with cloisters for the monks. The In- 
dian converts lived in little huts near the clmrch, and were 
tanght to keep the mission's cattle and sheep, and to cul- 
tivate the fields. ' ' The Indians were probably better dressed 
and housed and fed than ever before." The missions 
exist no longer, though their charming old churches still 
stand. The adobe churches and cloisters of San Gabriel, 
Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and the others "fill us with a 
genuine reverence for the sandaled monies," whose hard 
toil changed "this barren region into a garden." 

42. California (continued). 

Yosemite Valley is a gorge of the Sierra Nevada Moun- 
tains in eastern California. The little valley, eight miles 
long, is enclosed by great mountain-walls, and through it 
runs the foaming Merced River. 

Richardson speaks of "the measureless inclosing walls, 
with their leading towers and turrets, gray, brown, and 
white rock, darkly veined from summit to base with streaks 
and ribbons of falling water." 

Frowning El Capitan, an almost vertical cliff, seven 
thousand feet high, marks the entrance to the valley. It is 
the grandest of the rock masses, though Cathedral Rocks 
are over a thousand feet higher. 

These granite walls of towering height are Yosemite 's 
beauty as much as the lovely falls. The Yosemite Falls in 
three leaps drops almost half a mile. The Bridal Veil re- 
sembles a veil of lace thrown over the rock. In its own 
way, the Yosemite is one of the most "wonderful features of 
our continent." 



102 

About thirty miles from Yosemite Valley are the Mari- 
posa Big Trees, some six hundred in number. These trees 
are evergreens, and they are supposed to be at least two 
thousand years old. The Grizzly Giant is the most famous 
tree .in Mariposa Grove. Its lowest branch is one hundred 
feet from the roots. It stands apart from the others, as 
if it felt its greatness. Wawona stands directly over the 
road, and an archway, ten feet wide, has been cut for the 
drive through the base of the tree. 

Calaveras County in central California also contains a 
grove of these giant sequoias. Its largest specimen is a 
fallen tree, supposed to have been four hundred and fifty 
feet in height. 

Possibly the great seaport of San Francisco will intercvst 
you as much as these strange rocks and trees. 

The entrance to the bay on which the city lies is through 
the beautiful Golden Gate, a strait about five miles long, 
leading to the Pacific. 

The first white settlement on the bay was a mission for 
the Indians, established by the Spanish in 1776. Later, a 
little village grew up on the shore, but the real city of San 
Francisco dates from 1849. In the beginning of that year, 
the town had two thousand people; by the end of 1849, the 
place had twenty thousand. 

Wliat caused this rapid increase ? 

In 1841, Captain John A. Sutter, a Swede, settled at what 
is now Sacramento, and soon had a prosperous ranch with a 
sawmiill, a tannery, great herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep. 
James Marshall while working at the mill-race of this saw- 
mill discovered gold here in 1848. That ended the Sutter 
farm! Sutter made his men promise to go with their work 
and say nothing about the gold for six weeks, but the men 
soon deserted the farm to dig for gold. The news of the 



103 

discovery was published through the whole civilized Avorld, 
and gold-seekers poured into the country. They ruined 
Sutter, destroying his crops, and stealing his flocks and 
herds. Marshall, too, though he gathered some gold, died 
M poor man. 

If these men lost, the State gained. After the ''gold 
fever" was over, many of the new settlers turned their at-' 
tention to agriculture and commerce. For many years past 
the wheat, the wine, and the wool of California have been of 
far greater value than the gold, and the commerce of her 
cities exceeds in wealth the greatest of her mines. 

San Francisco, the ' ' Child of the Mines, ' ' before the de- 
structive earth(}uake of 1906, was one of the great cities of 
America. Its handsome rasidences on Nob Hill were 
famous. As well-known was the dreadful Chinatown. 
Here lived the Chinese, with their own shops and temples 
and theatres. 

These Chinese have yellow complexions, and little black 
eyes. The head is shaved except at the crown, where the 
hair is allowed to grow. This is braided into the queue 
which hangs down the back. Their cpieer dress, as well as 
their strange appearance, marks them from other foreigners 
there. Helen Hunt Jackson in "Bits of Travel at Home" 
describes thus a shop in the old Chinese quarter : 

' ' Sing, Wo & Co. keep one of the most picturesque shops 
on Jackson Street. It is neither grocer's, nor butcher's, 
nor fishmonger's, nor druggist's, but a little of all four. 

"It is like most of the shops on Jackson Street, part cel- 
lar, part cellar-stairs, part sidewalk, and part bedroom. 
On the sidewalk are platters of innumerable sorts of little 
fishes, — little silvery flshes; little yellow fishes with whisk- 
ers; little snaky fishes; round flat fishes: little slices of big 
fishes. . . . Eound tubs of sprouted beans ; platters of 



104 

square cakes of something whose consistency was like Dutch 
cheese, whose color was vivid yellow, like baker's ginger- 
bread, and whose tops were stamped with mysterious let- 
ters ; long roots, as long as the longest parsnips, but glisten- 
ing white, like polished turnips; cherries, tied up in stingy 
little bunches of ten or twelve, and swung in all the nooks; 
. . . dried herbs, in dim recesses; pressed cliickens, on 
shelves . . .,— all these were on the trays, on the side- 
walk, and on the cellar-stairs. 

"In the back bedroom were Mrs. Sing and Mrs. Wo, with 
several little Sings and Wos. It was too dark to see what 
they were doing; for the only light came in from the open 
front of the shop, which seemed to run back like a cave in 
a hill." 

Probably the new San Francisco will end the dirt and 
the wickedness of Chinatown and its tenement-houses. Its 
picturesque air attracted the eye of the visitor, but its filth 
appalled him. This foreign city did not belong to America, 
and therefore it was bound to give way to better things. 

43. The Indians. 

The Indians are an extremely interesting race. These 
earlier inhabitants of North America no longer roam its 
forests and hunt its wild animals. That form of savage 
life has largely vanished before the advance of civiliza- 
tion, yet a brief examination of it will prove of interest. 

Columbus named these people Indians, thinking he had 
come to India, in Asia, when he landed here. In appear- 
ance the race bears certain characteristic m^rks. Their 
hair is long, coarse, straight, and black; the skin is usually 
reddish-brown in color; the face is wide, with high cheek- 
bones, small black eyes, and a prominent nose. Indians 
vary as regards height, some tribes being tall, others short. 



105 

So they vary as to color, some being almost white, while 
others are brownish. 

All were divided into tribes, each having its own language. 
Several hundred different languages were spoken, though 
many were quite similar. One of the greatest of these 
tribes was the ''Five Nations" of New York, or the Iro- 
quois Confederacy, made up of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, 
the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas; another 
was the Algonkins, or Algonquins, who lived in New Eng- 
land, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the Ohio Valley, and Can- 
ada; the Shoshones (sho sho' nez) lived in western United 
States; the Apaches (a pach' e) inhabited New Mexico and 
Arizona; the Sioux (soo), or Dakotas, had their home in the 
upper Mississippi Valley; in southeastern United States 
lived the Chowtaws, the Creels, and tlie Seminoles. It 
would be tiresome to enumerate all the various tribes, but 
those named are probably the most famous. 

The houses of Indians varied as much as the languages. 
The Pueblos of the southwest built great houses of stone 
and adobe, several stories high. Another large house was 
the "long house" of the Iroquois. "It was of a long 
rectangular form," often a hundred feet long, and about 
fifteen feet wide. It was made of poles tied together and 
covered with long strips of bark. The only openings were 
the doorways at each end, the doors being blankets or skins 
hung over the openings. A passage-way ran through the 
centre of the house and the space on each side was di- 
vided by skin partitions into stalls, each holding a family. 
In the passage-way were five or six hearths, or fireplaces, 
which served for the twenty or more families living in the 
house. The Sacs and Foxes of Iowa built a large, bark- 
covered house for summer with a sleeping platform six 
feet wide the length of the house ; for winter, the house was 



106 ^ ' ~ 

of poles covered with sheets of inattiiig made of rushes. 
These houses were often dome-shaped, the height being 
only six feet. The Indians of the Plains built conical 
lodges, or tents, called tepees. The framework of a tepee 
(tep ee') w^as poles, tied at the top and spread out at the 
bot'oui "to cover a circle on the ground about ten feet 
across." This they covered with buffalo skins formerly; 
now they use cloth. The entrance had a flap of skin to 
cover it. The wigwam of the eastern tribes was similar 
to the tepee, consisting of a "rough, conical framework 
of poles stuck into the ground below and converging above, 
covered with bark, matting, or tanned hides, with an aper- 
ture at the top for the exit of smoke.'' Thus we see Avhat 
varying degrees of skill in building were shown by the 
tribes. 

The Indian dress was very picturesque, though hardly 
comfortable, if we are to judge by our standard. The 
winter clothing was chietly made of buffalo-skin or deer- 
skin. The breech-clout, held in place by a band or belt 
around the waist, was worn by almost all male Indians. 
They also wore leggings of buckskin, fitting tightly over the 
whole leg and fringed with pieces of buckskin along the 
outer side of the leg. A long jacket or shirt of buckskin, 
ornamented with painted designs or with bead-work, was 
another important article. The blanket was worn as a 
robe over this; in former days these were made of hides, 
but to-day they wear woolen blankets brightly colored. The 
feet were protected by the close-fitting moccasins, made 
of buckskin, and reaching only to the ankle. A necklace 
of beads and a head-dress of feathers completed the costume. 
These feathers were really war-bonnets; they consisted of 
a rawhide cap fitting the head, with upright eagle feathers 
fastened to it. A long streamer of cloth to which other 



107 

feathers were fastened hung down the back. To-day many 
Indians use the civilized costume, while others cling to their 
ancient dress. 

The Indians' homes were very bare indeed. ''Mats and 
skins served for bedding, and the ground usually for seats 
and tables. For cooking purposes some tribes used wooden 
vessels hollowed out by burning and scraping. They filled 
these vessels with water and threw in stones heated in 
their fires till the water boiled. Then the food was dropped 
in to cook in the boiling water. Baskets made of willow, 
very closely woven, were used in the same way. Some tribes 
had vessels of earthenware, others of hollowed-out soap- 
stone. ' ' 

Their tools and weapons were of stone, bone, or wood. 
War was a main business among the Indians ; and their 
chief weapons were the bow and arrow, the war-club of 
heavy wood, and the tomahawk, or hatchet, with its wooden 
handle and sharp-edged stone head. In their wars they 
always tried to draw the enemy into an ambush. A small 
part would attack openly and then fall back as if de- 
fea,ted. The pursuing enemy would follow these until in 
some woods or ravine the main body, which was concealed 
there, rose and massacred them. The great prize for the 
victor was the scalp of his foe. This was a part of the 
skin of the head with the hair. Prisoners were usually 
tortured to death. Sometimas, however, they escaped death 
by being adopted in place of a dead son or brother; some- 
times one was given a chance for his life by being 
made to run the gauntlet. He ran between two lines of 
armed Indians, who struck at him as he passed. Wounds 
generally killed the man before he ran far; but if his 
strength was great enough to stand the test, he won his 
life. 



108 

Higgiiison describes the ceremonies connected with the 
beginning of a war: ''Some leading chief would paint his 
body black from head to foot, and would hide himsellf in 
the woods or in a cavern. There he would fast and pray, 
and call upon the Great Spirit, and would observe his 
dreams. . . . If he dreamed of a great war-eagle hov- 
ering before him, it was a sign of triumph. After a time 
he would com.e forth from the woods and return among 
his people. Then he would address them, summon them to 
war, and tell them the Great Spirit was on their side. Then 
he would bid the warriors to a feast at his wigwam. There 
they would find him no longer painted in black, but in 
bright and gaudy colors, called 'war-paint.' The guests 
would be also dressed in paint and feathers, and would 
seat themselves in a circle. Then wooden trenchers con- 
taining the flesh of dogs would be placed before them, while 
the chief would sit smoking his pipe, and would not eat 
anything. 

"After the feast, the war-dance would follow, perhaps at 
night, amid the blaze of fire and lighted pine-loiots. A 
painted post would be driven into the ground, and the 
crowd would form a wide circle around it. The war-chief 
Avould leap into the open space, brandishing his hatchet, 
and would chant his own deeds and those of his fathers, 
acting out all that he described, and striking at the post 
as if it were an enemy. Warrior after w^arrior would 
follow, till at last the whole band woud be dancing, shout- 
ing, and brandishing their weapons, . . . and filling 
the forest with their yells." 

Their chief men besides the war-chiefs were the sachems 
and the medicine-men, or Shamans. The councils of the 
sachems ruled the tribes in times of i)eace. The medicine- 



109 

man was a "witch-doctor who used charms and spells to cure 
disease. Indians believed in the Great Spirit, or Supreme 
Being, and in inferior spirits found in everything around ; 
hence, as the medicine-man was supposed to have power 
over these spirits, he was greatly feared and respected by 
the people. 

Hunting and fighting were the men's work; everything 
else had to be done by the women. They raised the corn, 
tended the fire, made the clothing, prepared the food and 
cared for the children. The Indian babies, or papooses, 
were generally kept strapped on a papoose-board, care- 
fully wrapped in cloths and fastened in his place by 
bandages. Thus he could be carried on his mother's back 
or set up against the wall or hung up in a tree. Often 
the woman worked in the fields with her baby on her 
back, on his board or simply with his blanket bound around 
him. 

While the woman's life was hard it was scarcely worse 
than the man's. Both endured much hardship and suf- 
fering. Conditions have greatly improved. The Indian 
wars are over, and to-day many Indians live on govern- 
ment reservations. In Indian Territory, a number of tribes 
are settled, each tribe having its own land. They have 
good farms and fine herds of cattle. While most of these 
Indians continue to use their old languages, they have be- 
come considerably civilized. The schools are quite good, 
and many of the youths receive additional training at 
Hampton Institute, Virginia, and at Carlisle, Pennsyl- 
vania. The savage has gone ; in his place, there are many 
good citizens of this old race. 

Note. — Elson says: ''The whole -number of Indians in the United 
States according to the census uf 1900, was 266,760. Of this number 
137,242 are said to be 'civilized'; that is, they are 'taxed' Indians, 
who do not live in tribal relations on reservations. ' ' 



110 
44* Alaska. 

Until 1867, Alaska belonged to the Russian nation. Rus- 
sia sold it to the United States for about seven million dol- 
lars, and it has proved a very valuable purchase. Though 
much of its area of about six hundred thousand square 
miles is a region of ice and snow, yet the extent of its mines 
and its fisheries will make it a rich country. 

The beauties of Alaskan scenery have been praised by all 
travellers. Harrison says : ' ' The whole fourteen hundred 
—one might say two thousand— miles of coast extending 
from Puget Sound to Bering Strait is a succession of 
beautiful and picturesque archipelagoes, consisting of hun- 
dreds, if not thousands, of islands, through which there are 
countless water-caves, lakes, bays, inlets, as smooth as Lake 
George and the Hudson, and far more lovely. ' ' 

The numerous glaciers of Alaska, dazzling in their beauty, 
give a rare charm to the scenery. Muir Glacier, in south- 
eastern Alaska, is the most famous of these. Nine streams 
of ice unite to form it, giving it an area of over three hun- 
dred square miles. Its "most rapid summer movement is 
about seven feet" a day, and the slow, steady downward 
movement of this and other glaciers gives the icebergs 
which are such a common sight in these waters. 

Mrs. Scidmore says: "Avalanches of crumbling snow 
and great pieces of the front were continually falling with 
the roar and crash of artillery, revealing new caverns and 
rifts of deeper blue light, while the spray dashed high and 
the great waves rolled along the icy wall, and, widening in 
their sweep, washed the blocks of floating ice up on the 
beaches on either side. . . . The nearer one approached, 
the higher the ice-walls seemed ; and all along the front there 



Ill 

were pinnacles and spires weighing several tons, that 
seemed on the point of toppling every moment.'' 

Miss Kate Field says : "In Alaska a glacier is a wonder- 
ful torrent that seems to have been suddenly frozen when 
about to plimge into the sea. . . . Think of Niagara 
Falls, frozen stiff, add thirty-six feet to its height, and you 
have a slight idea of the terminus of Muir Glacier, in front 
of which your steamer anchors; picture a background of 
mountains fifteen thousand feet high, all snow-clad, and 
then imagine a gorgeous sun lighting up the ice crystals 
with rainbow coloring. The face of the glacier takes on the 
hue of aquamarine, the hue of every bit of floating ice, big 
and little, that surrounds the steamer." 

The rivers of Alaska are large and numerous, the chief 
stream being the Yukon. 

This mighty river, over two thousand miles long, is one 
of the greatest of the western world. Steamers ply on it 
from June to October ; then it freezes, becoming a highway 
for sledging, Salmon swarm in this river, one giant vari- 
ety being six feet long and weighing one hundred pounds. 
Alaska is the true home of the salmon, and the salmon can- 
neries seem to have an exhaustless supply to deal with. 
Mr. Ballou says: "The salmon are so plentiful in the 
regular season, that an Indian will sometimes deliver at 
the cannery three or four canoe-loads in a single day. They 
are mostly caught by net or seine, but often during the 
height of the season the natives absolutely shovel the salmon 
out of the water to the shore, with their paddle blades.'* 

Another valued product of Alaska is its furs. In Bering 
Sea there are four small, volcanic islands, known as the 
Pribilof Islands, the two largest being St. Paul and St. 
George. Neither of these has a harbor, yet from them 
come four-fifths of the sealskins of the world. 



112 

The seals move in herds, coming to these islands late in 
May, generally. The males are large, bold, and quarrel- 
some, while the females are small, mild, and gentle. Old 
males when full grown are from six to seven feet in length, 
the females being only about live feet in length. The seal 
hunters usually select young males, about four years old, 
for their fur. Each hunter has a powerful club, and one 
blow from this on the seal 's skull kills the animal instantly. 
The skins are then cut off, packed in salt, and shipped to 
London to cure and dye. 

For more than a hundred years the seals have come each 
year to these islands. Where they go when they swim 
away from them, no one quite knows. 

Besides its fur and fish, Alaska has great wealth in its 
gold deposits. The value of the gold mined there in 1903 
was over eight million dollars, and this in spite of the 
terrible hardships the miners must endure in those Arctic 
regions. The Treadwell Mine on Douglas Island, off the 
coast of southeastern Alaska, is a very rich mine. Placer 
gold is mined in many districts of the interior near the 
Yukon and its tributaries. In Seward, or Prince of Wales, 
Peninsula, rich deposits have been found in the seashore 
sands and along the streams around Nome, the chief city 
of this peninsula. Along Anvil Creek here some of the 
claims are as rich as those in the Klondike itself. 

Chamberlain describes these Arctic mines as follows: 
*' Gold-mining of the sort that is carried on here was 
probably never before seen. Many of the claims are 
worked by burning; that is to say, a fire is built on the 
ground which is forever frozen, and when a thin layer of 
the earth is thawed, the mud is dug out, and the fire built 
again on the same spot. Little by little, in this painful 



113 

manner, a shaft is sunk through the everlasting frost of the 
Arctic. 

"On Mastodon Creek, as a recent visitor has said, a 
glacier covers the pay streak for over half a mile. The 
glacier is from fifty to a hundred feet high and several 
hundred feet wide; yet all the ground underneath it has 
been located, and the glacier is being broken up by means 
v^f giant powder, so that men can get at the chance of find- 
ing gold beneath it on the claims they have bought there.'' 

The population of these Arctic mining camps and towns 
changes with the varying yields of gold. When the gold 
fails, the town ends practically. Thus, Circle City, almost 
on the Arctic Circle, enjoyed a brief pi^osperity in 1897- 
1898, when it was an important mining camp., Its build- 
ings were hastily constructed of logs that cost from four 
to six dollars apiece, so high was the freight to this re- 
mote spot. To-day it is almost deserted, the population 
in 1900 being only two hundred and twenty-five. 

Yet all of Alaska has not a frigid climate. The Kuro- 
siwo, the "Blue Stream" of Japan, makes the winters 
along the southern coast much milder than those of the 
north. Sitka in this belt is quite comfortable in winter. 
This town is very picturesque, with its houses straggling 
along the water front. It is the capital of Alaska, the 
governor residing here. It is beautifully situated on the 
western shore of Baranof Island. It is a United States 
naval station, and has a custom-house. The old Russian 
church of St. Michael is very pleasing, the interior being 
finished in white and gold. There are no seats in the 
church, the worshippers standing. The town's population 
of about fourteen hundred are chiefly occupied in mining, 
lumbering, and salmon-canning. 



114 

The natives of Alaska are Eskimos and Indians. Many 
Indian villages are found along the coast, placed there be- 
cause the tribes get their living from the sea by fishing. 
These villages usually consist of ''one row of wooden huts, 
in front of each of which stands a great carved pole, or 
post, called a totem." These totems are from thirty to 
fifty feet hi^h, and they are carved to represent bears, 
eagles, whales, or odd figures of men. Such a pole shows 
the history of the family owning it, being a kind of coat-of- 
arms, as Carpenter says. 

Alaska has many times repaid the original price paid for 
it ; it is destined to increase in wealth and population, how- 
ever, for railroads will soon bring its remote settlements 
into closer touch and relation with the civilized world. The 
early miners braved terrible hardships to even reach it, and 
many lives were thus sacrificed. They have found the 
way, and bravely conquered its terrors. Each year will 
diminish these difficulties, and Alaska will yield its treas- 
ures to the tireless energy and skill of civilized man. 

45, Our Pacific Possessions. 

Hawaii was annexed to the United States in 1898. The 
group is sometimes called the Hawaiian Islands, though its 
official name is the Territory of Hawaii. 

Wben Captain Cook visited them, he called them the 
Sandwich Islands, after Lord Sandwich ; hence they some- 
times bear this name, also. 

These islands lie in the Pacific Ocean, just below the 
Tropic of Cancer, twenty-four hundred miles west of San 
Francisco. They consist of eight inhabited islands, and 
seven small, rocky masses. Hawaii, about the size of Con- 
necticut, is much the largest of these islands, the next in 
size being only about one-fifth as large. 



115 

The islands are all volcanic. Between the high moun- 
tains lie plains, which are very fertile. These mountains, 
steep and forbidding, are barren except on the lower slopes. 
The mild, delightful climate and the rains give a very lux- 
uriant vegetation. 

Taro, the chief food plant, is somewhat like the sweet po- 
tato. Its root is ground to a paste and allowed to ferment 
slightly. This poi is served at nearly every^ meal, being 
kept in a bowl from which each guest dips some with his 
first and second fingers as it is passed. It does not look 
very elegant to see the natives drop the poi from their fin- 
gers into their mouths, and then lick their fingers, but such 
is the custom in these islands. 

Vast forests of ferns and palms with running vines meet 
us everywhere. The great sugar-plantations owned by 
large companies produce enormous crops, making sugar 
the leading export. 

Here, too, we see the shining green of the coflfee plant, 
groves of bananas, and great fields of pineapples. 

As we might suppose from their volcanic formation, 
active volcanoes are still to be found here. On the island 
of Hawaii is the famous Mauna Loa, over thirteen thou- 
sand feet high. 

The crater Kilauea (ke lou a/ a) lies on the eastern slope 
of this mountain, and from it, as well as from the top, 
streams of lava flow at times. 

This lava, or molten rock, comes out glowing red during 
an eruption ; but as it cools it hardens, and remains a horrid 
black mass on the mountain side. Wliere the lava reachas 
a village, of course it utterly destroys it; and the people 
living there are very fortunate if they are able to escape 
with their lives. 



116 

To-day a fine road leads up to the crater. It is an im- 
mense cavity about nine miles in circumference and from 
seven hundred to eleven hundred feet deep. 

After spending the night at Volcano House, near the 
crater, you rise early the next morning to see this natural 
wonder. Descending the crater and following the guide's 
steps you reach the burning lake of fire, which varies in size 
according to the volccino's activity. The intense heat burns 
your face, and the heat frojn the partly cooled lava on 
which you stand seems to shrivel up the soles of your shoes. 
But the beauty and the strangeness of it hold you fast. 

]\Trs. Brassey, describing this lake, says : ' ' We were stand- 
ing on the extreme edge of a precipice, overhanging a lake 
of molten fire, a hundred feet below us, and nearly a mile 
across. Dashing against the cliffs on the opposite side, with 
a noise like the roar of a storjny ocean, waves of blood-red, 
fiery liquid lava hurled their billows upon an ironbound 
headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliffs to toss 
their gory spray high in the air. The restless, heaving 
lake boiled and bubbled. . . . Sometimes tliere were at 
least seven spots on the borders of the lake where the 
molten lava dashed up furiously against the rock — seven 
fire-fountains playing." 

The island of Molokai is a small, mountainous island, 
whose native population lives mainly on the fertile land on 
the southern side. The leper settlement is on the northern 
coast. Here those afflicted with this terrible disease are 
brought to remain separated from the rest of mankind, un- 
til they die of this loatlisome, lingering disease. Death is 
welcomed by them. ''When death sets open the prison-door 
of life there, the band salutes the freed soul with a burst 
of glad music, ' ' says Mark Twain. 






117 

From this terrible place, it is a relief to turn to the life 
and beauty of Honolulu, the capital, on the island of Oahu. 
It is called the ' ' Paradise of the Pacific. ' ' Its streets, wide 
and regular, are bordered by houses set in gardens filled 
with tropical plants. Electric cars run through them, and 
at night they are lighted by electricity. On these streets 
w^e meet people of many nations. Here are Americans, 
English, Chinese, Japanese, and the native Hawaiians. 
These people are dark in color, but many are as intelligent 
as the whites. They love flowers, and it is no uncommon 
sight to see a native man with a wreath of flowers around 
his neck or his hat. These flower necklaces, called ''leis," 
are sold on the streets by the flower sellers, whose beautiful 
wares make the air rich with fragrance. 

Surf-riding is a great sport- with this sea-loving people, 
the ride being on a board about eight feet long turned up 
at the end. The rider swims out to the reef beyond the 
shore; then throwing himself and the board on top of a 
big wave, he rides the billow into the shore and is landed 
on the sand of the beach. 

Visitors to Honolulu enjoy this sport in a milder form. 
I*utting on a bathing-suit in one of the bath-houses at Wai- 
kiki Beach, one is rowed out some distance in a surf -boat, 
to meet the waves. When a good breaker is reached, the 
skilled oarsman turns the boat, which is then carried swiftly 
to the shore by the rushing mass of water. 

It is a lovely land. Mr. Clemens says he can never for- 
get its beauty: ''For me, its balmy airs are always blow- 
ing ; its summer seas, flashing in the sun ; the pulsing of its 
surf -beat is in my ear; I can see its garlanded crags, its 
leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the shore, 
its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud 
rack; I can feel the spirit of its woodland solitude; I can 



118 

hear the plash of its broote; in my nostrils still lives the 
breath of flowers that perished twenty years a^^o. " 

46. Our Pacific Possessions (continued). 

The Philippine Islands were acquired by the United 
States from Spain in 1898. This group lies off the south- 
eastern shores of Asia. It stretches over eleven hundred 
miles from north to south, and includes about seventeen 
hundred named islands and fifteen hundred without names. 
The two largest are Luzon in the north and Mindanao in 
the south, Luzon being about the size of Pennsylvania and 
Mindanao being somewhat smaller. 

The islands have a tropical climate. From November to 
February the w^eather is cool, dry, and delightful. In sum- 
mer heavy rains occur, which make the roads impassable. 
The dreadful typhoons, or violent wind-storms of the China 
Sea, occur in summer in the Philippines, wrecking ships, 
destroying villages, and killing hundreds of the inhabitants. 

This tropical climate and abundance of moisture give the 
islands a very luxuriant vegetation. Besides the vast for- 
ests there are cultivated areas, rice, hemp, tobacco, sugar, 
and copra, or dried cocoanut, being the leading productions. 
The tamed water-buffalo, or carabao, is of great value to 
the farmer in his fields, that being the chief beast of burden 
in the islands. They can plough the muddy rice-fields 
where a horse would be useless, and their great strength 
makes them invaluable in drawing heavy loads. 

The population of over seven millions includes whites, 
Malays, and negritos. It has been calculated that fifty-one 
different languages are spoken in these islands by the 
various tribes. To examine a few of them will be of value. 

The Filipino of the cities is very intelligent, and sur- 
rounds himself with all the comforts and appliances of 



119 

civilization. They nre well educated, speakiiiii: Spanish 
])erfectly. They love music and perform well on the piano 
and the oro;an. The contrast between him and his savage 
neighboi's is very great. 

The negritos of Luzon and Mindanao are dwarfish in size, 
with black skins and crinkly hair. They wear very little 
clothing, though they love ornaments. They build no real 
houses, but sleep in caves or rude shelters of bamboo, when 
the weather requires ii. They live in the mountains, hating 
the civilized life of the villages. Their food is chiefly fish 
and mountain rice, though they also capture game with 
their bows and arrows. 

In Luzon, also, there are many Igorrotes (e gor ro' ta^s). 
They are tall, strong, brown-skinned savages, having their 
own little farms and villages. Their houses are raised on 
piles. They have enough civilization to raise their crops 
of rice and tobacco, and to make lances and knives. They 
wear little clothing, but tattoo the body and gild the teeth. 
They are warriors and head-hunters, attacking neighboring 
tribes and carrying off the heads of their victims. 

One other interesting tribe is the Moros, found in Minda- 
nao and the Sulu Islands, the archipelago at the southern 
end of the Phillipine group. Mindanao has many Chris- 
tianized Malays, and various savage tribes besides the 
Moros, but we have not time to describe their ways. These 
Mohammedan Moros have their own towns and villages. 
They are divided into tribes, each under its datto, or chief. 
In the Sulu Islands, these dattos are under the rule of a 
sultan, called the Sultan of Sulu. Until the United States 
obtained possession of these islands, every datto could put 
his subjects to death for any offense that annoyed him. 
This power, of course, he no longer has, because our govern- 



120 

ment has soldiers at the capital, Suiii (or Jolo), to keej) 
these fierce tribes in order. 

Siilu is a fine town of about twelve hundred inhabitants, 
its wide, coral-paved streets are shaded by great trees. The 
town has a market, a hospital, barracks, and a theatre. 

The Moros live in small villages, the houses being built 
on poles. Those on the coast are built over the water on 
poles, and a rude bridge connects them with the shore. 

The dress of these brown-skinned savages is peculiar. 
The men wear tight trousers of various colors, a kind of 
Eton jacket, and bright colored turbans. They are fighters, 
evidently, for every man and boy is armed with a kris, or 
dagger, at his side, and some have guns. 

The black color of their teeth makes them look very 
fierce to us. This color, however, they consider a mark of 
beauty, producing it by chewing the betel-nut. 

Before we leave these islands, we must visit Manila, the 
capital. The sidewalks are narrow and the streets are 
thronged. It looks odd to see the great, ugly carabao 
slowly pulling a dray through the streets. If these animals 
are slow, however, the pony is not, for his driver lashes him 
to his utmost speed, almost regardless of the passers-by. 
The streets are paved, and are lighted by electricity. The 
houses seldom have more than two stories, the upper story 
being built of wood on account of the danger from earth- 
quakes. 

In many houses the rooms of the second floor open into 
a balcony, and this balcony is enclosed by windows of lat- 
tice work, made of the thin shells of pearl-oysters. Such 
windows admit light, but shut out the heat ; and when they 
are opened at night, the house becomes cool and pleasant. 
Very few of the houses have chimneys, charcoal being gen- 
erally used for cooking. 



121 

The market in Manila is divided into sections, each selling 
one thing. The sellers are mostly bareheaded, barefooted 
women, who sit on the floor as they show their wares.' Here 
I'ice is being sold, for that is eaten daily by these people: 
in another place, shoes are on sale; in another, clothes; 
farther along, we see lush for sale, many being kept alive in 
the market, placed in bamboo baskets holding water. Pos- 
sibly the fruits are the most attractive thing. Bananas, 
lemons, and oranges are there, and strange fruits as well. 
The sweet but rather tasteless papaw may not please you, 
but the large, delicious mango will. There, too, the betel- 
nut is being sold. This nut is cut up, mixed with lime and 
tobacco, and chewed jiLst as some chew tobacco in our coun- 
try. The market is a noisy place, for buyers and sellers 
haggle and bargain long before the sale. 

One often sees a man carrying a rooster in his arms. 
They are more than pets, for they are used to fight with 
other roosters. This cruel sport is forbidden by law, but 
one can frec^uently see two owners squatting on the street, 
holding their pets by the feathei^, while the birds match 
their -strength. A real fight results in the death of one of 
the birds generally, and the loss of the money his owner had 
bet on him. 

A pleasanter memory to carry from Manila is the sight 
of the children hurrying to their schools in the morning 
about eight o'clock, when the session begins. They are all 
eager to learn the English language, and nothing America 
has done there pleases the people better than the schools 
for their children. 
^7. Porto Rico. 

"Our real garden . . . is in the blue waters of the 
Atlantic, and beneath the tropical sky to the north of the 
Caribbean Sea.^' This is Porto Rico, the "rich port." 



1^2 

It is the smallest of the Greater Antilles, yet it is by no 
means a small island. Its length is one hundred miles, and 
its area is about three times that of Rhode Island. 

Nine-tenths of the island is hilly or mountainous. A great 
mountain-ran tie crosses the island from east to west, with 
the stately "El Yunque, " "The Anvil/' as its crownint>' 
point. This beautiful mountain can be seen from afar, 
holding' oul to navigators the dear promise of land. 

The climate of the island is generally healthful. The 
coast is warm, but the mountains of the interior are cool 
and delightful. The winter is perfect, for it has neither 
snow nor frost. The sunnner season with its rains is not 
the season for visitors. These rains are especially heavy in 
August, for then they fall as torrents of water, threatening 
to flood everything. The dreaded hurricanes sometimes come 
at that season of the year. Such storms overturn dwellings, 
destroy the crops, and kill hundreds of people before their 
fury is ovei*. It is well they do not come often. 

Northern travellers visiting the island would land at San 
Juan (hoo an'}, the capital. It is located on a small island 
oif the northern coast, its noble harbor being guarded by 
Morro Castle. 

This city is even older than St. Augustine, for the Span- 
ish founded it in 1521. The old Spanish walls around the 
town, the narrow streets, and the massive buildings, many 
of them colored, give the city a quaint look that pleases the 
traveller. The ancient Casa Blanca, "White House," in 
its walled garden of palms, takes one back to those old 
Spanish days. It was built by Ponce de Leon, who lived 
in Porto Rico before he started on that strange search for 
ihe fountain of youth. 

The houses of San Juan are not large, and most of them 
have balconies extending out over the pavement. The bet- 



123 

ter class ''dwell on the second floor of the houses, the 
liTound floor being given up to the servants and the 
stables." Often the shop is on the ground floor. 

These stores bear Spanish signs that tell nothing of the 
owner or his business. Carpenter says: "Here, for in- 
stance, is a dry-goods store with the words 'La Perla/ or 
'The Pearl,' above it. Next door is one selling hardware, 
Ic! belled the 'Golden Rooster,' while down that side street 
is a shop called 'La Nina,' or 'The Girl,' that selLs gentle- 
men's furnishing goods." 

The streets offer many interesting sights. There is a 
fruit-peddler, beariiig on his head a tray of mangoes, bana- 
nas, pineapples, oranges, and other tropical fruit; here is a 
luilkman riding a donkey that carries the two big cajis of 
milk; here comes a ma,n cariying a dozen live chickens, for 
no one in Porto Rico would buy any other kind; the hat- 
seller with his donkey loaded with hats of fine, woven straw 
is a comjiion sight; and there is a boy carrying a large bas- 
ket of bread on his head. 

If it is Saturday, we may expect to see beggars of all 
kinds on the streets, for that is the only day on which beg- 
ging is permitted. Nearly every store prepares its pile of 
pennies for these visitors, and few of the houses of those 
with means will refuse to help them. The Porto Ricans 
are a kindly, courteous people, always ready to help the 
poor and the stranger. 

The street musician with his guitar or mandolin, playing 
the native songs of the island or the melodies of old Spain, 
delights us Avith his music. Porto Ricans love music, and 
every town has its orchestra, giving open-air concerts twice 
a week while the people promenade the plaza, or public 
square. 



124 

The people have never cared for the cruel bull-fights com- 
mon in most Spanish countries, but cock-fights are .often 
seen. These, however, are less common than before, and 
the authorities are trying to prohibit them altogether. 
These cock-fights were held on Sunday, and were well at- 
tended by the men and boys. Much money was lost in bet- 
ting on this sport. It is only a little less brutal than our 
own prize-fights, where men batter each other to pieces for 
the amusement of betting mobs. 

But we must leave the capital; interesting as it is, we 
wish to see the life in the country. 

A magnificent road cuts across the country from San 
Juan to Ponce (pon'sa), in the south. It was built by the 
Spanish years ago, and it is one of the finest roads in the 
world, winding over the mountains as though these barriers 
were not there. 

The scenery is beautiful. The sugar-plantations on the 
coast give place to cocoanut groves, orange orchards, or 
banana fields. Higher up we come to the famous planta- 
tions of coffee, for this is the chief crop of the island. The 
green, cloud-capped mountains are as lovely as those of 
Switzerland itself. When the road winds through the 
woods, it is wonderfully beautiful. Ferns of all sizes are 
seen, and great trees, some with vines or moss hanging from 
the branches, and others with masses of yellow, red, and 
purple blossoms. 

Mr. James Sample, describing the scenery of this road, 
says: "I have crossed the American continent twice, I 
have seen the wonders of the Rocky Mountains, the Sierras, 
and the Yellowstone Park; but nothing I have ever seen was 
so enchanting as the view in the heart of Porto Rico." 



125 

Yet all is not lovely here, for the poverty of the peons, or 
field laborers, of Porto Rico strikes one very strongly in 
journeying across the country. 

They live in small, rude huts, roofed possibly with a 
thatch of sugar-cane leaves. A hammock or some branches 
make the bed, and that is all the furniture we find usually, 
unless we include the rough boxes that serve as chairs. The 
cooking is done in a rude kettle over charcoal or wood, out- 
of-doors when the weather permits. Rice, salt-fish, corn- 
meal and coffee are his chief food, varied by the abundant 
fruits of the island. His labors in the field are long and 
hard, and the pay is only about forty cents a day. 

Often we meet great carts loaded with sugar, tobacco, 
and coffee, and hauled by oxen. These strong animals 
move slowly but steadily, pulling their heavy loads by the 
horns and the head, urged on by their drivers, who thrust 
their steel-tipped goads into the poor beasts' sides. 

The Spanish-American war of 1898 will change the his- 
tory of the island, for as a result of this war America ac- 
quired this island. With the ''stars and stripes" go 
liberty and education, and these Porto Rico will obtain. 

Dr. Martin G. Brumbaugh, the first Commissioner of 
Education for the island, said that Spain did not build a 
single schoolhouse during the four hundred years of its 
rule over the islpmd. In 1903, there were fifty schools that 
the United States had established. 

The parents in many cases make great sacrifices to give 
their children a chance at this new education, showing in 
their efforts ''a zeal that is almost a frenzy." 

Dr. Brumbaugh says: "They are trying by education, 
by industry, and by obedience to law, to prove their right 
to a place in the sisterhood of States. They are fondly 
looking for the day when the star of the beautiful island 



126 

of the sea shall nestle in the folds of the flag they love as 
we do. They are learning what we must all learn with 
deeper meaning, that the door to statehood is the door of 
the free public school." 

Education will, indeed, work w^onders with a people as 
generous and as liberty-loving as the Porto Ricans. 

48. Jamaica. 

The beauty of Jamaica pleased Columbus so much that 
he called it Santa Gloria, and its beauty remains to-day. 

This beauty comes in part from its many mountains, for 
lofty ranges cross the island in all directions, with the 
main chain, the Blue Mountains, extending from east to 
west. When the king of Spain asked Columbus for a 
description of Jamaica, he crumpled a piece of paper, and 
presented that to the king as illustration of its mountain- 
ous surface. 

The island is about one-tenth the size of Pennsylvania, 
and lies about ninety miles south of Cuba. It is located 
in the Torrid Zone, yet its climate is so moderated by cool 
sea breezes that it is almost perfect. This breeze, as reg- 
ular as the sun, is called "the doctor" by the Jamaicans, 
and it, together with the mountainous elevation, makes 
life there possible to the whites. There are two wet seasons, 
— one from May to August, and the other in October and 
November. Naturally these are the least healthful seasons 
of the year for visitors. 

The soil is less productive than that of the other West 
India Islands. JMost of the productions of the tropical 
lands are raised, but the chief crops are sugar, coffee, 
bananas, pineapples, oranges, and pimento, or allspice. The 
forests of ebony, logwood, mahogany, and other woods 
also furnish valuable exports. 



Kiugston is the capital. Its streets are poor, and the 
houses in most cases are small. Electric cars are used in 
the city; but the buggy remains the chief conveyance, and 
the drivers of these buggies with their noisy demands for 
high prices are a great annoyance to travellers. 

The market-place is very interesting. It consists of two 
groups of walled-in sheds, half a mile apart, the road 
connecting them being also used for selling on market- 
days. Here one sees meats, fish, and fifty varieties of 
fruit on sale. One odd article on sale is "jackass rope"; 
this is simply tobacco, arranged in rope form, and sold 
at a few cents a yard. The market-women are very noisy, 
and very insulting if offended by the visitor's failure to 
purchase. These negro market-women are very strong and 
very graceful, bearing on their heads loads heavier than 
a white man would care to carry. 

Of the population of three-fourths of a million, only 
about twenty thousand are puie white, the bulk of the poj)- 
ulation being negroes. The male negro here is intensely 
lazy, leaving all the work to his hard-woi'king wife. He 
seems happy in his idleness, and lives on very limited 
means. His diet is fruit, vegetables, and a little dried 
salt fish, almost putrid, 'llie negroes of the country differ 
somewiiat from those of the city. Here each man builds 
his hut according to his own fancy. Some are made of 
heavy grass, with a roof of banana leaves ; others are of 
mud, thatched. The country children are strong and 
healthy, and wear very little clothing. Their few schools 
are taught by negro teachers. 

The island was a Spanish possession from the time of 
its discovery by Columbus until the English seized it in 
1655. Admiral Penn annexed it to England then, and it 



128 

still remains an English possession. In 1834, slavery was 
abolished there by Englancl, the government paying $30,- 
000,000 to the owners of the liberated slaves. While this 
measure was the only right thing to do, yet it greatly 
injui-ed the island's commerce. With slave labor, sugar 
was a very valuable crop. The freed slaves would not 
work, even for wages, and the great sugar-plantations and 
rum factories in many eases had to be abandoned. 

James Anthony Froude, describing a trip through Ja- 
maica, gives a conversation he had with his negro driver on 
the subject of labor: ''I engaged a 'buggy' at the station 
with a decent-looking conductor. . . . His horse looked 
starved and miserable. He insisted that there was not an- 
other in Kingston that was more than a match for it. We set 
out, and for the first two or three miles we went on well 
enough, con\^ersing amicably on things in general. But it 
so happened that it was market-day. The road was 
thronged with women plodding along with their baskets 
on their heads, a single male on a donkey to each detach- 
ment of them, carrying nothing, like an officer with a de- 
tachment of soldiers. 

"Foolish indignation rose in me, and I asked my friend 
if he was not ashamed of seeing the poor creatures toiling 
so cruelly, while their lords and masters amused them- 
selves. 1 appealed to his feelings as a man, as if it were 
likely that he had any. The wretch only laughed. 'Ah, 
massa, ' he said, with his tongue in his cheek, 'women dc 
women's work, men do men's work,— all right.' 'And 
what is men's work?' I asked. Instead of answering, he 
went on: 'Look at they women, massa. How they laugh! 
HoAV happy they be! Nobody more happy than black 
woman, massa.' " 



129 

This labor problem has not yet been solved by Eng- 
land ; and until an adequate labor supply is secured, the 
island must remain only partly cultivated, and with im- 
perfectly developed resources. 

49. Haiti. 

The island of Haiti, or Hayti, is one of the Greater An- 
tilles, and is next to Cuba in size. It is separated from 
Cuba on the west by the Windward Passage, and from 
Porto Rico on the east by the Mona Passage, Cuba being 
seventy miles from it and Porto Rico sixty. Its northern^ 
shores are washed by the Atlantic Ocean and its southern 
by the Caribbean Sea. 

The area of the island is about two-thirds the size of 
Pennsylvania, the greatest extent being from east to west, 
a distance of about four hundred miles. This island is 
divided into two republics, Haiti occupying the western 
third and Santo Domingo, or the Dominican Republic, 
the remaining two-thirds in the east. 

The whole island is mountainous, with three separate 
ranges crossing from east to west. These mountains reach 
their highest point in Loma Tina, ten thousand feet high, 
located near the city of Santo Domingo. All the moun- 
tains are covered with dense, almost impenetrable forests. 
Long valleys and plains lie between these ranges. The 
mountains have no volcanoes, but earthquakes are fre- 
quent. 

The island has a tropical climate, unhealthy in the low- 
lands for Europeans. There are only two seasons,— the wet 
and the dry. The rainy season is in summer, and it is 
then that the dreaded hurricanes occur. 



130 

The soil of the island is remarkably fertile, surpa^ing 
that of any other island in the group. 

"Sugar-cane grows the year round. . . . Once 
planted, no further care is required until the time for 
cutting, and as it sprouts again as soon as cut, no replant- 
ing is necessary oftener than once in ten years." Other 
crops grow with equal ease. Cotton, corn, cocoa, tobacco, 
coffee, and various tropical fruits are produced, while in 
the rich forests, mahogany, logwood, cedar, and other val- 
uable trees are found. 

The country's history shows a succession of revolutions 
and tyrannical governments. Columbus discovered the 
island in 1492, and the first permanent European settle- 
ment in the New World was planted there at Santo Do- 
mingo in 1496. The Spanish soon exterminated the native 
Indians, the gentle Caribs of whom ColumbiLS had said 
"They love their neighbors as themselves, and their dis- 
course is ever sweet and gentle, each sentence accompanied, 
with a smile." Columbus thought there were a million 
natives in Haiti when he landed, yet "within less than 
fifty years they had all disappeared," victims of the cruelty 
of their Spanish masters. The island continued a Spanish 
possession for many years. In the seventeenth century 
French pirates settled in the western part, and by the treaty 
of 1697 the western part of the island was given to France. 
Negro slaves had been imported by the French and the 
Spanish, and these constituted the bulk of the population. 
In 1791, a fierce negro revolt occurred, and after several 
years of bloody war the island was freed from its foreign 
rulers by the negro leader, Toussaint 1' Ouverture. 

Toussaint was a negro slave, whose parents were also 
sfaves. He learned to read and write, and rose to the 
position of steward on his master's sugar-plantation. When 



131 

the slaves massacred their white masters, in 1791, Toussaint 
saved his master's family and helped them to escape from 
the island. Then he joined the rebels and soon became their 
leader. For a few years he ruled the whole island, gov- 
erning wisely and restoring prosperity. Napoleon finally 
decided to conquer him and sent an army to Haiti. Tous- 
saint was captured by treachery and carried to France; 
he died in his dungeon there, starved to death, according 
to some historians. 

The French did not get the island back, however, but 
were finally expelled. The island remained in the power 
of the negroes, now an empire, now a republic, now under 
one rule, now divided into two, always unsettled, always 
subject to change and revolution. 

Perhaps the most cruel of the rulers of Haiti was King 
Christophe the Cruel. He was a full-blooded negro who 
had begun life as a valet to a Frenchman in Port-au-Prince. 
At the time of the negroes' revolt in 1791, Christophe 
was stiii a slave, working as cook at a tavern. Christophe 
joined the rebels and his great size, six feet four, secured 
him a command. He rose to high rank in the negro re- 
public, finally becoming president in 1807. This rank did 
not satisfy him, and in 1812 he had himself crowned as 
Henry I, King of the North. He surrounded himself by 
negro courtiers whom he made nobles, one of the greatest be- 
ing the Duke of Marmalade. Christophe built a fine palace 
and a fortress. La Ferriere, named after the French en- 
gineer who constructed it. La Ferriere was built on top 
of a mountain by negro labor, the king forcing the negroes 
to work on pain of death. It had a moat and a draw- 
bridge, and was protected by great guns. The king's 
secret treasure-room was carved out of solid rock, and 
here-to-day, in the ruined fortress, we see the pieces of the 



132 

iron-bound chests that held his gold. The day La Ferriere 
completed the fortress, the king summoned him to join 
him on the parapet overlooking the valley below them. 

'' 'What would happen to a man if he were to jump 
from this parapet?' said the king. 

" 'He would be dashed to pieces on the rocks," replied 
La Ferriere. 

" 'Then try it! Jump!' said the king." 

On La Ferriere 's refusal, Christophe had his soldiei^ 
pitch him over the walls, thus getting rid of the only per- 
son who knew the secrets of the fortress. Christophe 's 
cruel reign ended in 1820. Some say he was thrown over 
the parapet like La Ferriere, by the rebels ; others say that 
he shot himself after his army revolted, first taking a 
bath of red pepper to get courage for the deed. 

To-day the rulers of the two republics are all negroes, 
for no whites are allowed .to vote or to hold political po- 
sitions ; they cannot even own real estate. 

The two capitals are rather interesting to visit. Santo 
Domingo's capital is the town of Santo Domingo, or San 
Domingo. It is surrounded by an ancient wall and bears 
the marks of its great age. It is "poorly built with un- 
paved streets and mainly thatched houses." Everything 
looks very dirty. The houses are Spanish in style, and 
the people here speak the Spanish language. Some of the 
houses "are built around courts, so that they appear to 
have a garden inside the house. The walls are of the 
brightest colors. ... In the suburbs are mud huts 
thatched with straw or palm leaves, with poorly dressed 
men and women, and half -naked babies. There is little 
work going on, and all seem shiftless and lazy." In the 



133 

cathedral here, the remains of Columbus were kept until 
1795. 

Port-au-Prince is the capital of Haiti, on the west coast, 
it is an important commercial town, and has about three 
times as much population as San Domingo has. Here 
the language is French. Many of the people in the city 
are intelligent and educated, dressing well and showing 
considerable refinement of manner. The palace, the senate- 
house, the cathedral, the arsenal, the law-courts and a 
college are points of interest in the town that prove their 
civilization. The lower classes of negroes in the interior of 
the country, however, are very degraded. They are 
''steeped in the superstitions and practices of voodoo.'' 
This is an African form of worship dealing with charms, 
serpent-worship, witch-craft, and conjury. The conjurer, 
called the voodoo doctor or priest, or sometimes the voodoo 
king or queen, exercises great power among these ignorant 
people. Cannibalism and human sacrifice are said to be 
part of this worship in some places. 

Thus it is that ignorance and bad government have re- 
tarded the growth and progress of the island, and made 
of little worth the rich gifts that nature gave it. 

50. Cuba. 

Cuba, the largest of the West Indies, lies at the entrance 
of the Gulf of Mexico. It is about one hundred miles 
from Key West, from which Florida Strait separates it. 
The length of the island from east to west is seven hun- 
dred and thirty miles; the total area is about equal to 
that of Pennsylvania. 

Part of the island is crossed by mountain-ranges, for the 
Antilles are generally considered to be part of a mountain- 
range which at one time connected North and South Amer- 



134 

ica. Much of the country. hoAvever, consists of well- 
watered plains. 

The climate of Cuba is tropical; the thennometer rarely 
goes as low as 50° on the coldest days, while the average 
winter temperature is about 70°. Snow never falls except 
in the mountains. There are really only two seasons, a 
wet and a dry, the wet season lasting from May to Oc- 
tober. The days are generally clear up to about ten 
o'clock; from then till night during the rainy season, the 
rain may be expected. "The nights are commonly clear." 

Columbus called Cuba "The Pearl of the Antilles" be- 
cause of its rich and beautiful vegetation. "Over the whole 
island is a mantle of tender vegetation, rich in every hue 
that a flora of more than three thousand species can give, 
and kept green by mists and gentle rains." 

Humboldt says: "We might believe the entire island 
was originally a forest of palms, wild limes, and orange- 
trees." Notwithstanding the extent of the great sugar- 
plantations, there still remain nearly thirteen million acres 
of forest, where mahogany, ebony, cedar, and other valu- 
able woods are found. Sugar, tobacco, coffee, Indian corn, 
and many varieties of fruit are raised in abundance. In 
1902, 850,000 tons of sugar were produced, for almost half 
of the cultivated part of the island is used to raise sugar- 
cane. Tobacco ranks second in importance, the exports for 
1902 being 34,300,000 pounds of leaf-tobacco. The num- 
ber of cigars exported in that year was 208,000,000. 

All the domestic quadrupeds are found in Cuba, most 
of them having been brought there by the Spanish. The 
island is rich in birds, of which over two hundred species 
are found. Inhere are no venomous serpents here, the 
maja, from ten to fourteen feet long, being terrifying only 



135 

in appearance. It is common about the huts and the 
farm-houses, delighting in the thatched roofs of the older 
buildings, and feeding on poultry. The crocodiles and 
alligators do not seem to be greatly feared by the natives. 

The population of the island is about a million and a 
half, one-third of which is colored. Most of the people speak 
Spanish. The poorer classes are badly educated, and in 
1899, sixty-four per cent, were unable even to read. The 
better class are well educated, many attending European 
and American universities. 

Hill says : ' ' The Cubans, however, as a class, high and 
low, are a simple-hearted people, hospitable to all strangers, 
especially Americans. The men of the better classes are 
well bred and educated, and even the peasantry have a 
kindliness and courtesy of manner that might put to blush 
the boorish manners of some of our own people." 

Cuba has as its capital Havana, or to use its Spanish 
name, San Cristobal de la Habana. Its beautiful harbor 
is defended by l*unta Castle and by Morro Castle, the 
latter resembling a palace in its beauty, its brown walls 
rising from a ridge of rock in the water. The old, inner 
city has narrow streets, and sidewalks only two feet wide ; 
in the newer quarter we iind wide streets. Most of the 
houses are low, with barred windows. As these windows 
reach almost to the Hoor, everything within is open to in- 
spection from the street. The walls of the houses are porous 
stone, ''painted in yellows and pinks and greens and blues 
and whites, with a prevailing red in the tiled roofs. Of the 
seventeen or eighteen thousand houses of the city, three- 
fourths are one-story. ' ' The Cerro is the handsomest street 
in Havana, bordered on both sides by beautiful marble 
mansions in the midst of line gardens. These houses are 
around a court, or patio, in which are plants and flowers 



136 

and often a fountain. The Prado is another fine street 
with its wide central promenade bordered by trees. There 
are many sipiares, or plazas, the finest being the Plaza de 
Armas with fine walks and lovely trees. ''Toward even- 
ing, the central plaza and the adjacent drives are alive 
with splendid equipages and horses . . . and the benches 
and colonnades teem with well-dressed citizens ... or 
gaily uniformed soldiers, the whole making a picturesque 
and enlivening scene. . . . Bands of music at night 
add to the general air of gayety." The points of interest 
in the city are the Cathedral, the Palace, the University 
of Havana, the great theatre, Teatro Tagon, besides the 
markets and the immense cigar factories. 

The city formerly had much yellow fever, and was "a 
plague spot for centuries." Recently, efforts have been 
made to keep the city and its harbor clean, with the result 
that yeDow fever has almost disappeared. Cuba's other 
chief cities, Matanzas, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de 
Cuba, each with a population of about forty thousand, have 
likewise improved in cleanliness and appearance in recent 
years. 

"Central Cuba is little more than a vast sugar estate, 
divided up into large and small farms." These estates 
employ thousands of negro men and women to plant and 
cut the sugar-cane. Each large plantation is really a vil- 
lage with its own church, hospital, dwellings, and shops. 
The sugarhouse itself is a vast building conducting all 
the processes of sugar-making. Here the cut cane coming 
from the field is crushed between heavy rollers; the juice 
is then boiled and skimmed in three successive boilers 
and put through different operations until sugar and mo- 
lasses are produced. Some mills grind a thousand tons 
of cane a day. 



137 

The roads of Cuba are wretched, and commerce must 
still use the slow-going- ox-cart and mule-cart. During the 
rainy season, wheeled vehicles cannot be used on the roads, 
and travel is by mule-back except where the railroad has 
been introduced. A peculiar vehicle of Cuba is the 
volante (''flyer"). It has shafts sixteen feet in length 
and a pair of wheels about six feet in diameter. "For- 
ward of the wheels and between the shafts is suspended, by 
means of leathern straps, a phaeton-shaped body." One 
horse is harnessed between the shafts, while a second horse 
is often attached to the left, and on this left horse the 
driver rides. If but one horse is used to draw the volante, 
the driver sits on it. His decorated hat and scarlet jacket 
trimmed with gold braid give him and the equipage a 
very dashing air. 

Ballou says: "Most of the so-called roads resemble the 
bed of a mountain torrent, and would hardly pass for 
a cow-path in America." 

For four hundred years after its discovery by Columbus, 
Spain oppressed the island. She exterminated the orig- 
inal Indian inhabitants by her cruelty, and made the life 
of the island's later inhabitants intolerable by the harsh 
rule of the captains-general who governed the island for 
her. 

A war for independence began in 1895, and aided by 
the forces of the United States the people won their- free- 
dom in 1898. To-day, Cuba is an independent republic. 
If the people can learn to govern themselves wisely, they 
can win an honored place among the nations, for "Cuba 
is indeed a land of enchantment, where nature is beautiful 
and bountiful, and where mere existence is a luxury." 



138 
51. "America." 



My country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, 

Of thee I sing ; 
Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the Pilgrims' pride, 
From every mountain side 

Let freedom ring! 

My native country, thee, 
Land of the noble free. 

Thy name ] love ; 
I love thy rocks and rills, 
Thy woods and templed hills ; 
My heart with rapture thrills, 

Like that above. 

Let music swell the breeze, 
And ring from all the trees 

Sweet freedom's song; 
Let mortal tongues awake, 
Let all that breathe partake, 
Let rocks their silence break, 

The sound prolong. 

Our fathers' Grod, to Thee, 
Author of liberty, 

To Thee wc sing; 
Long may our land be bright 
With freedom's holy light; 
Protect us by Thy might, 

Great God, our King! 

Samuel Francis Smith, D. D. 



OCT 31 1905 



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